Love On the Rocks
by Katsu-baka
Summary: what happens when Kagura is kidnapped along with a certain sadist?
1. Contest Winner

Hi there~

This is my first fanfic EVER so ummm….I hope you enjoy ^_^

**What! Me own Gintama? Noooo... That's owned by the legendary Hideaki Sorachi-sama**

**Contest Winner**

_Out to buy Jump._

_-Gin-chan_

Kagura crumbled up the piece of paper. "That idiot really needs to grow up." She fell back onto the sofa and stared up at a particular head-shaped hole in the ceiling. "When he comes back there'll be a second hole." Now what was she supposed to do? She glanced over to the end of the couch. Maybe she could... Nope, Sadaharu was still sleeping. Well there you had it she had absolutely nothing to do. "Hope there's something entertaining at the park." She got up and grabbed her umbrella, and with that she was out the door.

Today was a particularly hot day. Even under the protection of her umbrella, it felt as if the sun would devour her as soon as she let her guard down. She slipped a piece of sukonbu into her mouth. Looking around she saw some kids were playing their usual games…Boring. But still it was better than doing nothing and if they refused she could ruin their fun also, couldn't she? "Let me play." The two boys crinkled their noses. They both knew the smell of sukonbu from anywhere and only one person was brave or stupid enough to eat it. "No, leave us alone weirdo!" said one of the boys. "What was that ya little brats?" she said raising her eyebrows stepping a little closer as she did. "Let's go before she spreads her weirdness!" Said the other and the two did just that.

"Stupid brats…"

"Don't you think it's a bit too early to be harassing little boys, China?"

Kagura turned to face the owner of the voice: Okita Sougo a.k.a Sadist. "Don't ya think it's a bit too early to be slacking off your work?" she retorted. He smirked "No. While I was on patrol, I saw a menace walking the streets." Kagura frowned. Wait a minute as far as she knew his post was on the other side of town. Slowly as the expression goes _her frown turned upside down_. "Your post is on the other side of town. Just admit it you came over to see me..." She grinned.

Okita smirked "You wish. Give this to Danna." He came up to Kagura and dropped a box in to her hand. Before she could interject he was already gone; lost in the sea of people. She walked over to bench. Curiously, she stared at the box in her hand. Maybe she should open it? Gin-chan's not here. Yeah, so it was within her jurisdiction to open the box and take a look. With no hesitation or regret Kagura quickly opened the box.

It was a mini-cake.

Sugar isn't good for Gin-chan's health.

Instantly, the unsuspecting cake was shoved down her throat. Besides what he didn't know wouldn't hurt him. Suddenly she felt a burning sensation overcome her tongue.

Was this karma? _Sorry Gin-chan I'll save the next one for you._

No it wasn't, that **bastard** put hot sauce in it **again**!

Tears seeped out of her eyes as she ran to the closest water fountain. The hot sauce was almost as hot as her desire to extract revenge. The next time she saw that sadist, he was gonna get it.

Oh yes….he was gonna get it good.

But that would have to be put off until later. Right now she had to go deal with a certain- silver-haired, _Jump_-loving -idiot of a samurai and her roaring monster of a stomach. Shamefully, Kagura walked all the way back home with a swollen tongue.

How embarrassing.

Sliding the door open, she was face to face with her lovable dog. "Sadaharu!" she said giving the fluffy dog a huge hug. "Kagura-chan, help me! Gin-san is depressed about not getting his _Jump._" Said Shinpachi trying to comfort the depressed samurai with no success, Kagura sighed. "Gin-chan, old men like you should really should get rid of their childish habits." She said with a piece of sukonbu dripping out of her mouth. "Shut up Kagura, a kid like you would never understand how it feels to have a piece of your soul delayed for a week!" Gintoki said with little tear drops in his eyes.

"Gin-san that makes no sense…"

"Megane you wouldn't understand either! 'Tch' I'm going out!"

"Megane? Did you just call me glasses!"

But it was already too late; the natural-perm haired man was gone. "It's alright Shinpachi, useless people like you should be named by what are." Kagura said nonchalantly while scratching Sadaharu's stomach. "That's all you see me as?" he shouted. Angrily, he put on his headphones and played his favorite CD from Otsu-chan on full blast. Unfortunately for Kagura and Sadaharu this was accompanied with singing from the tone-death 16-year old. She laid on the couch and covered her eyes.

Miraculously, the phone started ringing. "Shinpachi, get the phone" Kagura said uninterestingly. The boy didn't hear. "Guess I'll have to get it." She murmured as she got up and answered the phone.

"Hello, this is Yorozuya. How can we help you?"

"Congratulation! You are our grand prize winner!"

"Really?"

"Yes, yes-"

"What I win?"

"A life time's supply of strawberries

"When do I get it?"

"Right now at the store across Kabuki Chou Park…"

The line went silent, so she hung up. She walked to front of the door, Sadaharu followed. "No Sadaharu, you can't come. The owners probably get scared of you 'cause they don't understand your cute side." She said scratching right behind his ear. Just the way he liked it.

"Megane, I'm going out to claim my prize!" she slipped on her boots and was out…Once again.

**Hello…again =3**

Please leave a review, constructive criticism preferred.

They help me become a much better writer, so the story is much more enjoyable

Ja ne~ -rides away on the Gin-bike-


	2. Capture

Bon jour~

Thank you for the wonderful reviews everyone; they made me feel happy (T u T)

Here's the second chapter

**Like I said… I could never live up to the amazing ****Hideaki Sorachi-sama**

**Capture**

Okita laid casually on his favorite bench with his trademark mask draped over his eyes. Patrol duty was boring, especially today and it felt like the sun was taunting him under his thick jacket. So, the only way he knew how to and would fix it was to sit underneath a tree and take a looong~break from patrolling.

Nothing much ever happens anyway, so it probably didn't matter if he did it or not.

"Oi, Sougo…You there?" buzzed out a voice from his pocket.

And now his break was coming to a possible end.

He let out an annoyed sigh as he pulled out his communicator.

"Hijikata-san, you're interrupting my break-time, please go die, over"

"YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE TAKING A BREAK! And anyway, I need you to check out this store, there's been some suspicious activity. It's located just across Kabuki Chou Park."

"Can't Yamazaki do it? Over."

"Yamazaki is on another mission."

"Why don't you do it? Over."

"No I can't… And stop it with that over-crap! We're not _Stewie and Brian_! You're the closest to the damn store so just go do it."

"Whatever you say Hijikata…over~"

"SOU-"

Before Hijikata could finish Okita had already turned off his walkie-talkie. He put it back to into his pocket and sat up on the bench. Just as he pulled off his sleeping mask, a leaf from a momiji tree landed on his forehead. He picked it off and stared at it while smiling.

The auburn color reminded him of China's hair.

His rival…

Slowly his smile turned into a smirk as he crushed the leaf in his hand and let the wind carry away the pieces.

He wished he could have seen the look on China's face when she ate the cake.

He knew she would undoubtedly fall for the same trick twice.

Maybe even a third time if he tried…

She was one of those few people he knew that never ceased to amaze him. He got up from the bench and walked to the store across the street. Completely, ignoring the hateful look he got from some passerby.

Would he have another chance to mess with China today?

Speak of the devil.

There she was just a couple of feet in front of him saying something about 'berries?'

Well it didn't matter what she was saying.

She entered a store; which coincidentally was the same he had to investigate.

This must have been fate or his lucky day, if Hijikata was to somehow die in a _mysterious _death.

Okita smirked even harder as he entered the store.

He leaned on the nearest wall as he silently observed the room. Nothing was really out of the ordinary besides the scratches on the floor.

Most likely from some rats or cats.

"Hey, old man where's my prize?"

Okita watched Kagura confront a considerably old man who stood behind a counter. "Ah so you were our lucky winner" the man smiled.

A suspicious smile.

A possible lolicon…

Disgusting, it's not like China had anything to offer anyway as far as he knew.

The man walked away into the back of the store while Okita came up to Kagura.

"So China, what'cha win?"

Kagura sharply turned to face him with a frown plastered on her face.

"TEME YOU PUT HOT SAUCE IN THAT CAKE AGAIN!"

"It's not my fault; you were stupid enough to fall for it." He deadpanned.

"What'd you say?" she said gripping on to his jacket collar.

"Will you let go of me?" he said as if he _didn't_ want to pick a fight.

"After I'm done kicking your ass!"

"As if you can."

"I know I can!"

The two hadn't noticed the old-man had come back with a large basket in his shaking hands until he let out semi-loud cough. "Excuse me, but, here is your prize young miss." He smiled once again.

It had a strange feel to it but Okita dismissed it as another lolicon-related thing.

Suddenly, Kagura apparently lost the will to fight. She walked back up to the man with her eyes glued on the strawberries. "So what's so special about these strawberries?" she asked. "You see, these are specially imported strawberries. They are well-known for having an excellent taste and making the person feel a burst of happiness …"

"Really?"

"Yes, yes, try some." He said handing two strawberries to Kagura.

Okita felt himself get a little ticked off. Ignore him will she…

Just as she reached out to grab it, his hand had already beaten hers to both of the strawberries.

She watched in horror as Sougo licked one her precious strawberries and then dropped it into that greedy mouth of his.

The strawberry was good but had a weird aftertaste.

"Wow, China, these are good." He said gripping onto her chin and tilting it slightly up.

"Try some…" He said.

Slowly and with ease Okita slipped the other strawberry he held in his hand in between her lips. Even though, Kagura held angry look on her face. She hardily accepted it and rejoiced right after.

"Like it?" he asked letting go of Kagura.

He got no reply.

"China?"

Okita didn't have enough time to dodge her incoming fist. The punch hit him square in the face with enough force to hurl him into the wall. She quickly turned and grabbed as much strawberries as she could hold from the shaking man. She instantly shoved them all into her mouth. Kagura turned once again to face Okita, who was starting to get up. "Sadist, don't think you can just get away with doing tha-" Sougo watched her body fall to the floor.

"China?"

His vision began to blur as he attempted to run towards her but, his legs felt weak.

He fell to floor.

His body was begging to shut down. He watched with- his slowly closing eyes - the old man come walk over to Kagura. And as much as he wanted to get up and stop him, his body was no longer responding.

The last thing he heard was:

"_Killing two birds with one stone..." _

**Hope you liked this chapter.**

**Sorry it took a while to get all the right words out and check all my errors. Which I still think I missed some.**

**Please leave a review (constructive criticism preferred)**

**Bi Bee~ **


	3. Prisoners

Ohayo~

Thanks for the reviews TuT

They're very much appreciated

**Gintama isn't anywhere my caliber to own, it all belongs to Hideaki Sorachi-sama**

**Prisoners**

Kagura laid still on what she thought was a futon.

Where was she?

She could feel two bodies hovered over hers.

Was she at a hospital?

For one thing she was definitely sure she was no longer in that weird store.

"Should I wake her up?" said a feminine voice.

"No, don't worry I got this." This time it was a male who answered.

It sounded familiar…

Sounded like O-

All of a sudden, she felt a sharp sting go across her cheek.

"KONOYARO!" she said immediately giving the offender a nice headbutt in the nose. "How dare you slap me!" she yelled as she cradled her red cheek. Blue eyes met darkness. She waited for her eyes to adjust to the darkness to get a good look at the perpetrator but she could only see their silhouette from where they were laying. "There's no need to get all mad over that China." deadpanned the voice as they began to get up. Only one person would call her 'China'. "Sadist, I'm gonna kill you!" She quickly got up to attack him but was stopped by a small hand holding onto the hem of her dress.

"Please calm down Nee-san."

Kagura looked down and saw a young boy?

"Who are you?" she asked.

"Please sit down and I will tell you." He replied

His voice was a _little_ high for a boy, so maybe it was a girl. Nah… Kagura did as she was told and took notice that Okita was already sitting beside her. She watched the young boy walk into the lightest part of the room. His black hair was unkempt and short with the exception of his bangs. He wore a slightly tattered black yukata with some white floral prints. The sleeves were torn off up until it reached his shoulders. His face held sad smile which reflected off his sapphire eyes. "Hi, I'm Ayumi. Right now you're trapped on Jii-san's palace and probably never going back home like me…"

Kagura's eyes widened in disbelief; Ayumi was a girl and they were captives?

She sunk her head down.

How could she have been captured and more importantly wrong?

"Nee-san, are you okay? It's not _that_ bad to live here." Aymui said coming up to Kagura's side.

"Don't worry about her; she's probably on her period." Okita said nonchalantly.

Okita swiftly leaned back and dodged the incoming hand meant to smash his head into the ground. Kagura stood up in an attempt to land a kick on his head. But instead he a caught hold of her leg and pulled her back down onto the floor. "Teme!" she said rubbing the back of her head. Quickly she stood once again unleashing a barrage of fist towards Okita. Which Okita himself gracefully blocked and dodged each punch and in return tried to land a few punches on her. Which Kagura easily avoided.

She would try to hit him.

He would block.

He would try to hit her.

She would block.

It was an elegant dance of punches and kicks only known between the two of them.

Just as Kagura was about to bestow a jaw-breaking punch to Okita; she tripped.

Once Kagura hit the ground, Sougo went on top of her and pinned her to the ground. "My, my China, look at the predicament you're in." He smirked. Kagura inwardly shivered. As much as she didn't want to admit it, something about the way the light bounced off his face was somehow…alluring.

Cerulean eyes stared into burgundy ones.

The room went silent; the only sound heard were the steady drips from a rusty faucet and soft breathing.

That was until a loud bell went off.

"Ahem…Sorry to interrupt you guys but its dinner time." Ayumi said. Kagura looked over and saw Ayumi holding a huge platter of food with a sheepish smile on her face. She promptly pushed Sougo off and ran over to her little piece of heaven.

Surprisingly, she had forgotten how hungry she was.

Kagura watched as Ayumi set the food up closely -which was more than Ayumi was used- on the small round table placed in the middle of the room. Once the food was set up, Kagura was first to sit down, followed by Ayumi then Okita. The meal looked so delicious~ Pork Katsudon with miso soup and green tea.

"Itadakimasu."

"Itadakimasu."

"Ita-dakimasu."

The first few minutes of eating started out in silence but after a while Ayumi decided to break the ice. "Ummm…since I told you guys who I am, mind telling me who you are?" she asked. "Name…Kagura." Kagura answered by pausing in between the large scoops of food that kept disappearing in her mouth. Sougo responded in a more polite manner by putting his food down "Okita Sougo."

"Kagura-nee-chan, Okita-nii-chan." She said as if reminiscing the sound of it. "Mind if I call you that since we're going to be here a while?" Ayumi smiled after finishing her whole meal.

"No but, Ayumi-chan, how old are you?" kagura asked who had already finished her third and finial bowl long ago.

"I think I'm…nine" she replied.

"You think you're nine?" Okita said raising his eyebrow.

How could a kid not know their own age?

"I've been here since I was six, so I think about three years went by…" she said as she got up and grabbed a worn out sketchbook. Carefully she opened it to a particular page with 3 chibi drawings of a partially-bald old man next to an equally creepy-looking amanto. Both sporting sinister looks. Well as sinister as chibi drawings can get. "You see these guys come only once a year they told me. Since I drew them three times, it's been three years uh-huh."

Kagura looked at the girl in slight amazement. Ayumi was trapped in this place for three _years-_aru?

A moment of silence drifted in the room once again.

"Are there any other people here besides us?" Okita said glancing at the various futons placed around the room. "Not right now but everyone will come back sometime…" Ayumi whispered but with the stillness of the room it sounded as if she screamed it.

"Where are they?"

"They went away with Jii-san... Yawn~ I'm sleepy. Your beds are right here. Kagura-nee-chan I hope you don't mind if I sleep next to you." By the time she finished speaking; Ayumi was already immersed into the comfort of her futon. Kagura also left the table and went to her 'futon' placed right next to Ayumi's. Sougo went to one that was about three meters away from hers. The two lay quietly waiting for the girl to fall asleep. They were soon assured by the sound of slowed breathing.

"Oi, sadist..."

"Oi sadist…"

"Oi, _Sadist!" _The cerulean eyed girl said this time in her loudest whisper.

"What."

"How are we going to get outta here-aru?"

"That'll have to wait until tomorrow…" was his finial word on the subject as they both went to sleep.

_Kagura sat on her throne in an arrogantly posture While Gin-chan and megane appeared magically with a plate full of sukonbu and a parade of food from behind him, all coming towards her and for her. After she practically devoured all the food, she saw a man standing in the shadows. Kagura could sense his rebellious aura. "Who are you?" she asked. The man stepped up from the shadow "The Prince from Planet S, Okita Sougo" he replied giving her a mock bow along with a devious smile._

"_Show some real respect brat." Kagura ordered._

"_Make me."_

_Everyone around her except for Sougo disappeared from her sight._

_This guy was really begging to piss her off._

_Time to teach someone where their place was…_

_Kagura lunged forwards and delivered a direct kick to his chest. Okita caught hold of her foot before she could touch the ground. He slammed her into the pavement. Kagura quickly recovered. She let out a torrent of punches and kicks, which Okita found a little hard to dodge. He would've been able to dodge every single one but that was until she faked a punch and gave him roundhouse kick to the face. Okita fell to the ground on his knees. Kagura smiled evilly as she pushed his head closer to the gravel with her foot. "Bwahahahaha! Now pledge your eternal loyalty to me, you dirty pig!" She commanded_

_Okita raised his head slightly and looked at her straight in the eye. He opened his mouth but the words that came out were inaudible to her ears. _

"Mmm..." Kagura woke to a delightful smell. "Foood~" she moaned. Somehow with her eyes barley opened, she made her way towards the food without either stepping on Ayumi or running into a wall. The wonderful smell that caught her attention was a small bowl of rice, an egg, grilled fish, toast and miso soup. She had to admit the prison food here was better prepared than the food at Gin-chan's. But even though his food and cooking skills were pretty crappy, maybe it was the company of the people she liked that made Gin-chan's food more 100 times more enjoyable than the prison food here. Before she even noticed she had finished most of the breakfast and only one set was left. Not wanting a guilty conscious, she left the last set for Ayumi and went to -what she believed was- the bathroom to wash her face. Once Kagura stepped out of the bathroom, she saw Okita eating breakfast from Ayumi's share!

"Sadist, what are you doing?"

"Eating, what about it?"

"That's Ayumi's."

"Her name's not on it."

"I left that for her."

"And you were going to let me starve? Even sadists get hungry you know."

"Kagura-nee-chan, it's alright I already have my own." Ayumi said. She tilted to the side so Kagura could see her and showed her the bowel in her hand.

Now Kagura was confused. "But there was only one left..."

"Knowing your monstrous appetite, I woke up early, hid my share then went back to sleep. Didn't you find it a bit odd that the food was already set up? Probably not knowing you." Okita smirked. Kagura's only response was "Stupid sadist." as she walked to farthest part of the room away from him. She wasn't in the mood to fight with him. They needed to find a way out of here. It was then that she noticed exactly how cramped the room was. It was practically the size of Gin-chan's bedroom with nothing inside of it and just a tad bigger with the exception of the bathroom. She took a glance at the window, scratch that, the square hole with bars draped with barbed wire plunged in it. By the looks of it was late-morning and still hot like yesterday. But outside was still beautiful.

"Ayumi, have you ever tried to escape from here?" The words had accidently slipped out of her mouth.

"Yeah a bunch but I always get caught. Last time I tried, they punished me. One of the guards tried to cut my fingers…" Ayumi absently stared at her fingers "but the others said no, so he cut my hair instead." She finished as she curled one of her bangs. "Don't worry, when we escape, I'll be sure to kick everyone's ass here." Kagura proclaimed. And when she said she'd kick everyone's ass that **included** the sadist's. "That's if we escape." Okita said. "Obviously we are." She retorted. "Can I come with you?" Ayumi piped up "I wanna see my brother again."

A sad smile, the same as when they first met...

A heavy atmosphere floated in.

"You have a brother, a lovable older brother right?" Kagura said trying to disperse the heavy atmosphere like Shinpachi would sometimes do in these kinds of situations.

"No, he's my twin brother."

"What's he like?"

"He must be very important to you." Okita added. Kagura guessed he only said that because he too was a bit curious about the brother who made Ayumi want to risk her life to escape and see him again.

"He's a mostly crybaby and pulls my cheeks whenever he's angry at me. He's really nice everybody. Like sometimes when we can only buy one of us candy, he shares his with me or gives me the whole thing. And whenever the boys from the neighborhood try to bully me, he comes and protects me from them. He tries protects me from anyone who tries to hurt me. But last time I saw him, he got really, really sick and couldn't leave the house. It was our birthday that day and I still haven't given him his gift and said thanks for being a good brother…" Ayumi finished.

"Wow, he sounds like a good brother-aru." Kagura smiled.

_Mission__ accomplished: The mood was lightened_

Risking your life for three years to give your brother a gift and say thank you. As stupid as it seemed, Kagura thought to herself, would she do the same for Gin-chan or even Pachi? And you know she sure as hell would.

"He is! Do you have a brother, Kagura-nee-chan?"

"Yeah, a stupid older brother…" Kagura said in a passive tone.

Okita slightly raised his eyebrow. "Hnnn…"

"How about you Okita-nii-chan?"

His face that was usually void of any emotion became sad and full of regret.

"…."

"Sorry for asking."

_Mission failure: the mood just got heavier_

_C'mon sadist don't get all emo now of all times. No one feels like being sad while we're trapped in this place-aru! _

"Ha...ha…ha, Don't worry about him Ayumi! He'll be fine" Kagura said letting out an uncomfortable laugh. She was genuinely surprised and bothered by the sadist's silence. Ayumi got up from the table and went to a section of the room to draw on her sketchbook. Kagura watched Okita's blank stare into space. His usually taunting burgundy eyes were all teary looking. She grabbed Sougo's arm and shook him a bit. "Okita, okita are you all right?" This was the first time she ever called him by his name. But this was also the first time she had ever seen him so sad. She hadn't noticed he had back to normal and was already smirking. "Oki-"

"Hmmm... This is the first time you called me by my name, Ka-gu-ra." He teased. Okita turned slightly to look her in the eyes with those same taunting eyes. "You must have been worried about me~" Kagura rolled her eyes "Like I'd worry about someone like you. You're not worth it." She said. Before he could make a come back, she walked over to Ayumi, who was drawing a picture of a family. A mom, a boy and a girl; it kinda reminded Kagura of her own family. "Wow, you're really good at drawing aren't you?" "You like it? I practiced very hard every day." She beamed. Kagura had a feeling that Ayumi would grow up to be a great artist after they escape. Escape…

"Ayumi, do know exactly how big this place is." Okita said looking out the window.

When had he gotten up?

"I can draw a map of all the places I been too. It will take me few hours to remember and draw them all, is that okay?" she answered immediately put the family drawing away and pulled out another semi-clean sheet of paper.

"_Perfect…_" He smirked "And as for you China" He came up to her and pulled her away by the collar of her dress to the table in the middle of the room.

"Let me go sadist!"

"Is there really a need to shout?"

"Yes, if you're gonna keep grab me like that, Konoyaro!"

"Calm down, will you." Okita said after finally letting go of her.

"What do ya want from me anyway?" Kagura said.

"Tell me more about this brother of yours."

"Fuck no."

"Okay, how about this." He picked up a deck of cards from the side of the table and showed her the ace of spades. "If I can catch this card before you, you'll have to tell me. If you catch it-which probably won't happen- then you don't have to say a word."

"Deal" Kagura said already formulating a plan in her head.

Okita threw the cards in to the air. Quickly, she scanned all the cards winging in the air. Now where was that ace? As soon as she caught sight of it, it was one of the worse possible outcomes. The card as if in slow-motion was descending to the sadist's hand. She had to stop him and before she knew it, her legs were already connecting with the side of his face. Okita flew back and hit the wall with a loud thud causing the wall to form spider cracks around the impact-area. "Damn China you really don't want to tell me, do you?" He said rubbing his head as she frantically searched for the card. "All the more better, I suppose…" He smirked. He returned the favor to Kagura by kicking her in the stomach. When she landed on the floor, she tripped him. And with this a long battle between the two had begun, both forgetting about the card.

The battle lasted for hours, leaving both sweaty and tired. Kagura sat on top of Okita breathing heavily while pulling his hair as Okita gave her the same treatment.

"Let go of my hair, teme!" Kagura yelled.

"You first." He said.

"Not until you're bald enough to be a mirror!"

"Then I'm not letting go, simple as that." Okita deadpanned.

"It diner time, you guys." Ayumi smiled. The two paid her no heed. That was until a sharp knife whizzed pass their heads and struck the wall. "Excuse me but _its_ diner time." She smiled cheerfully with a knife positioned in her hand for easy throwing. Well it was between, either eating the wonderful-smelling food or beating down the stupid sadist and dodging knifes at the same time. The latter of the two ultimately won.

Beef ramen with some fruit juice. Even though they were in prison, the food seemed to make you think otherwise. The lunch itself was eaten with an awkward silence constricting their throats. If you were just threatened to eat by someone you _thought_ was harmless, it would leave you speechless too. "Okita-nii-san, I finished drawing the map." Ayumi said as she poured the plates down a small trapdoor-laundry chute type thingy. So that's where all the plates go.

Okita took the two papers from her small hands and set them on the table. It was a series of boxes, puffy cloud-like shapes (trees?) and squiggles. "Here's where we are." Ayumi pointed the box in the middle "and tomorrow you'll be here." Her finger moved towards another box in the top right corner of the page. "Why tomorrow?" Kagura asked. "Jii-san likes to come visit when there's new prisoners." She answered.

"Okay then I'm going to say the plan, _nice _and _slow _like so a _certain _someone can understand." Smirked the sadist.

"Not in the mood sadist."

But the smirk remained. After hours of him repeatedly describing the plan and making multiple back-up jut incase _someone _screwed it up. Such a waste of time, they could easily destroy the whole place if they wanted. Heck, why didn't they?

Kagura sat up from her futon. Careful enough as to not wake Ayumi, who had- as hard as she tried not to- fell asleep during Okita's fiftieth explanation of the plan.

"Oi, sadist why don't we blow up this whole place instead?"

"Because, I have to arrest the man who runs this joint stupid and if we kill him in the making, I'll have a lot of paper work..." His voice trailed off.

Kagura's only response was a very un-lady like snort. All in all, the whole plan left her tired. She wasn't used to the whole concept of planning. And right now it seemed as if doing things head-on was much easier.

She glanced to the side to see if the sadist had fallen asleep/

So sadistic demons can look peaceful when they're asleep can't they? \

Kagura laid back down onto her futon and closed her eyes.

Tomorrow was going to be an interesting day.

**School just started so sorry for the wait**

**But I made the chapter (extra) longer**

**I hope that you enjoy it**

**Please leave a review, constructive criticism preferred. **

**Ja ne~**


	4. All's Fun in Love and War

It's been like what? 4 months 0_0?

SORRY DX but I got such a huge writer's block that went away later on but then my computer decided out of all the files I had on my computer that this one was corrupted D8 but after I got mostly everything back to normal and got a sparkle of inspiration, this was made. Sorry again if it sucks more than the other chappies but I didn't want to make you wait any longer ..

**I don't own Gintama **

**All's fun in love and war**

Okita woke to the sound of dishes clinking against the table.

Morning already?

With his eyes half opened, he waited until Ayumi slipped back into her futon, then got up and went to the table. Just an ordinary Japanese-style breakfast, well besides the little sign next to with the words 'DON'T EAT' written on it in Ayumi's handwriting. Nothing looked wrong with it…to a normal person that is. But Okita, himself was no normal person, he was an awesome, sadistic (prince), samurai, police officer and was damn proud of it. Because of those attributes he was able to smell a faint odor of a really strong sleeping powder- which he couldn't care to remember- sprinkled over the food.

"Stu…adist." Okita spun around and stared at the still-asleep Kagura. China must have been dreaming of him he smirked. He hadn't notice his hand had strayed off and started stroking her hair. She let out soft inaudible noise which caught his attention. What he was doing? He quickly retracted his hand as if her hair was actually made of venomous snakes. When in reality it was the complete opposite. Whenever the thought came to mind he thought her hair would have been cruddy and booger-infested, not clean and without doubt_soft_. Okita felt his face heat up a little.

Was he falling for China?

Not a chance in hell, he was just a bit surprised.

His eyes drifted off to a lonely black marker lying in the middle of the table then darted back to Kagura. A devious little scheme formulated into his head. And before he knew it he was already positioned over China and the marker was in his hand. But things didn't go as planned.

Lips slightly parted, soft breathing, eyes closed….

He was caught. No she wasn't awake. Nevertheless he **definitely **was **caught**. She had on such a peaceful face which greatly contradicted an awake and roaring China. It wasn't the first time he was all close and personal but this was the first time he actually saw any other emotion besides disgust, anger and (false) triumph on her face. His eyes stayed glued on her face. He _almost_ didn't want to draw on her face. But that almost wasn't good enough to stop him. Revenge was like a feast in the eyes of a starving man and he was a starving for revenge.

Returning the favor…all over her face.

Except that same face, all of a sudden became a magnet and was pulling his face closer to hers. This had to stop. As if his prayers were answered, Kagura turned her head and the magnet was off. Sougo could now think clearly again. This little prank had become too risky. Mission aborted. Just as Okita was about to heave himself off, she mumbled out the words.

"Gin-chan…"

For one reason or another, those words sparked back up his desire to re-try his little prank. Thank you very much China. Still in the face-writing stance he slowly tilted back her head to face him. Quickly Okita scribbled the words 'IDIOT' on her for head and scribbled a small picture of a pig along with another word on her right cheek. There wasn't much he could do.

Any moment that magnet could have turned on.

Or his hand could become possessed again…

He sighed as he got up from Kagura and next to her.

It was all China's fault. Nothing planned out ever worked whenever China was involved! Sougo let out another sigh in frustration. He wasn't even sure if the plan he had come with was going to even work. It had so many flaws and plus he was itching to kick the ass of whoever got him into this cage. There was a 67% chance that he would 'accidently' kill whoever was holding them here. But that meant bringing no criminal in, which meant that Hijikata wouldn't believe he was abducted. This meant that he would have to paper work for skipping out on work unauthorized which was equal to_ lots_ of work waiting for him if the guy was killed and other reasons also. So it was in his best interest to keep the man alive.

What a drag.

Another sigh made its way out his throat. He hated thinking ahead about things. Going with that flow was one of his favorite things to do. No need to think about future consequences. Sadly life didn't always work out that way. The choices you made today, affected your tomorrow. Because some of the choice you had to make were between your life and ending someone else's. One choice after another until it's your final one.

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard a loud yawn coming from a certain beast. "Sadist~ what the hell are you doing near my bed aru?" she frowned. Okita leaned over to Kagura and cupped her chin. His devious wine-colored eyes bore into her unsuspecting but soon to be sapphire eyes. "I just wanted to see how your face looks in the morning, is all China." He smirked. It was an odd Okita-styled answer. He watched Kagura's eyes slightly widened, vaguely catching the meaning of his words. "Are you sick or somthin', aru?" She slapped away his hand.

Even though they were 'prisoners' she was still the same old gullible China…

Okita smiled to himself.

A genuine smile.

The last time he had ever really smiled was when…Aneue was still alive.

He felt a gentle hand grabbed onto his shoulders. It was China's hand. Her eyes were filled with concern "Are you sure you're all right?" He hadn't noticed that he was no longer smiling but instead frowning, which was soon replaced with his trade-mark smirk. "Wow China being nice to me twice in one week ~ I'm starting to think to you like me or something." He winked earning a fist to his face. "I don't even know why I try to treat you like a human." She muttered as she got up and walked to the table. "Isn't obvious it's because a monster like you loves me." Okita joked again while rubbing his nose. "Teme!" She responded to him again with another angry fist. After he had recovered from the second blow, Kagura was just about half done eating her and _his_ share of food.

That's not good.

"Nee-chan spit that out! You weren't supposed to eat that." Ayumi shouted who apparently she had woken up again in the midst of their fighting

"I feel dizzy" She attempted to stand but fell as soon as she tried. Okita caught her before she hit the floor. "China…China…Kagura." She just laid there still...Just like the time at the strange store. His blood was beginning to boil; now he really wanted to find this guy and now chances of him killing the guy was raised to a 93%.

"Ummm…Okita-nii-chan, why does nee-chan have drawings on her face?" She was staring particularly at the pig on her cheek. "A fairy came in and played a prank on her." He said apathetically. Ayumi tried to stifle her laughter but failed.

Okita watched Kagura.

He should have warned about the food. But that thought was in the back of his mind when he and the marker shared a common interest:

A marker was meant to put a _mark_ on an object.

While he wanted to put a _mark_ on China's face.

See common interest.

Getting back to the point, **nothing good ever happened when China was involved**. He watched with amusement as Ayumi tried to wake Kagura by whatever means. In the midst of her shaking, Ayumi said with a sense of urgency "Nii-chan help me wake Nee-chan up." Even though his poker face was still up, behind it Okita was beginning to worry. But he had to…stay to stay calm and not get worked up.

"_A swordsman is only headed towards death when their mind is clouded because it will reflect off their sword" _Kondo once told him. The man could have his moments sometimes, even though at the time he was talking about sneaking pass megane's sister's defense system to get into her house and do whatever stalkers do. Really his taste in women were almost as bad…well Kondo's was the only who had a thing for women. Hijikata, after his sister passed on, had a thing for Danna; it was so damn obvious even if those two couldn't tell the other liked the other.

Kagura's eyes popped open. "Nee-chan!" Ayumi smiled. "What?" Kagura began to shake her head as if to shake away a bad dream. "Nee…chan?" Ayumi said. She didn't reply. A few minutes went by until she finally said "Sadist, what the hell did you do to me?" It still the morning of their escape and this has already happened. "What are you talking about China?" Okita answered. "I can't feel my legs! You poisoned the food didn't you? One of your sick tricks again? Huh is this, what gives you kicks sicko?" she spewed out. China was beginning to agitate him. He pushed her down back onto the floor. Her eyes never left his. "China, I feel hurt. I haven't done a thing to you. Besides you're not even worth the trouble of poisoning." He said with a sadistic smile. "You mean I'm too good to be poisoned." She corrected.

"Right…" Okita rolled his eyes as he let go of her.

Kagura had some trouble sitting back up. Once she did, Ayumi looked at her in amazement. "Wow Nee-chan. I bet when that fairy came in she made you lucky cause she felt bad about what she did!" she exclaimed. "Cause everyone else who ate it never woke up." Kagura cocked her head to the side. "What prank?" "Okita-nii-chan saw a fairy played on you a prank on you this morning." Ayumi couldn't hold in her childish excitement.

"Sadist!" Kagura tried to throw a punch at him which he easily caught in his hand.

The poison must have slowed her down too. "Now, now China don't move so much, the poison might spread and kill the peanut in your head you call a brain." Okita said in mock-sincerity. If what Ayumi had said was true and uing his amazing and usually accurate sense of smell then why was China only paralyzed up to her legs, if it was meant to be a sleeping powder?

It was a simple answer really. China wasn't human.

"Ayumi what did the 'fairy' do?" Kagura asked. Ayumi leaned close to her as if she were going to tell a secret. "Idiot! Glutt…on…What does glutton mean?" Ayumi eyes were glazed with curiosity. Kagura didn't answer. She looked as if she wanted to clobber the so-called fairy. Okita decided to push her even farther "It's a pig with no manners" Ayumi backed away from Kagura flailed her arms in the air.

"That's a mean thing to do! Nee-chan did you do something to the fairy?" she said.

"I'm about too..." Kagura answered.

Ayumi was confused but Okita surely wasn't.

Before he could even make a move, Kagura's teeth were locked onto his hand till it bled. "What the hell! Why did you bite me?" Okita winced.

He'll be sure to get her later for that. She wiped his blood from her mouth and clutched onto his jacket; most likely to support herself. "Just consider it the beginning of your punishment for messing with the queen, teme." Okita smirked "Like hell you're a queen more like a _boor._" Kagura ignored him "Once I'm done with you, you'll be crawling back on your ass" She smiled. "That's my line, China" Okita smiled also.

It was a do-any-more-funny-tricks-and-I"ll-be-sure-to-kick-your-ass-kind-of smile, the only smile shared between them. Okita heard a knock coming from…the wall? Okita glanced at Ayumi to see her reaction. She had an unsure smile on her face. Sougo and Kagura both watched the wall farthest away from them sink in and reveal a passageway.

A tall man about three to four years older than Sougo appeared from the passage. He wore fingerless brass knuckle gloves on both his hands and a metal plate on his lower torso. Normally it would have been hard to see a person's face in this light. But his bright blonde hair and cold blue eyes-blue eyes that wear nothing like hers- were easy to see. Overall appearance: strong, young, and fairly handsome- words that Okita barely ever used to describe a man. 

His eyes shifted down towards Kagura.

She showed no reaction

Sougo let out a sigh of relief.

Huh?

Why would he care how China would react?

"Ayumi..." The man smiled as he stretched out his arms. "Hei-chan!" Ayumi ran up to the man and hugged the man. He picked her up and twirled her around; just as an older brother would do. Who was this guy? Kagura seemed to have read his mind. "Who the hell are you?" she asked. "This is Hei-chan, my friend, he gonna be an actor." Ayumi said as the man walked up to Kagura and Okita. "The greatest the world has ever seen~" He paused for a moment. "Why are you two in that position? You better have not done anything inappropriate in front of Ayumi." He said. Overdramatic; guess he could be an actor. Okita hadn't noticed the suggestible position they were in. China was in-between his legs clutching onto his jacket. Kagura yanked her hands off, just when he was about to push her off.

"Calm down Hei-chan, I wouldn't dream of doing anything like that with that monster" Okita side-stepped the incoming punch towards his legs. "My name is Heisuke, no one besides Ayumi has any right to call me otherwise and don't talk to me so casually. Remember you are captives here." He said. Possible sis-con or lolicon, he fit the criteria. "So Hei-chan, what are you doing here?" Okita said ignoring his request. "I'm here to take you away to see boss." Heisuke said looking down at Kagura. Okita followed his stare, Ayumi also. "Why don't you stand up like everyone else?" He said. "That's because Kagura-nee-chan legs are sleeping in place of her!" Ayumi smiled. She was more naive China but you couldn't blame her. Being locked up in place like this would call for an imagination like hers to keep you from going insane or maybe she was insane. Just because she was a kid didn't mean she couldn't go insane like adults, trust him cases like that were especially horrible not to mention annoying. "Now why should she be sleeping?" Heisuke spoke gently as he put Ayumi down. "She ate the food from this morning but luckily she was saved by the fairy and now….umm... she's now like this."

"Didn't I tell you not to let them eat it on these days" He sighed. Well Okita and China were confused. Wasn't he the enemy? Why was he all friendly with Ayumi only? Heisuke pulled syringe from his pocket. Okita defensively stood in front of Kagura "You're lucky I brought this, here." He said tossed it to Okita, who which caught it skillfully in one hand.

"What do I do with this?"

"Isn't that obvious, inject the anecdote into her. Since I don't want to do it, you must." He said.

"D-d-don't you come near me!" Kagura screamed.

"Nee-chan, we just want to help you." Ayumi said.

**SADIST MODE ON**

Okita slowly walked towards Kagura. She looked like a trapped rabbit. A smirk was plastered on his face; boy was he loving this. That face she was making he wanted to see more… "Don't worry China; it'll only hurt for a while." He said sweetly. She tried to crawl away but he was faster. "Won't this wear off?" Kagura asked. "Nope." Heisuke and Ayumi said in unison. Okita pinned both her arms down roughly to the ground with one hand but she still tried to shake him off. "Come on now China, we're just trying to help you…" She ignored him. "How can we trust this guy? He just came out of nowhere!" She said. She did have a point. "Hei-chan's not like them…He's not evil." Ayumi said. "If I wanted to kill you I could have done it without any poison." Was all he said. He had a point there also.

"B-b-but…" Kagura's eyes widened as she watched the needle get dangerously close to her skin. Just when the needle was just a few millimeters away from breaking skin, Sougo stopped. He put the syringe into his jacket pocket. "Well that was fun." He smirked looking down on at the shaking girl. "Why didn't you give her the antidote? Do you want your lover to be paralyzed for the rest of her life?" The gold-haired man frowned. "I plan on giving it to her later." Okita paused as he glanced as China. Besides the sapphire-eyed girl's face lighting up at the mention of that she deny so much as say a word.

"Now can I have a bit of privacy with my 'lover' before we go?"

"Make it quick"

Ayumi gave the two a confused look as Heisuke gently pushed her into the entrance he came from. Once the door shut behind them, Okita turned towards Kagura and bent down face-to-face with her. He took note that all the red on he face was gone "What do you need to say, _honey_?" she said in a mocking tone. "Well _sweetie_ there's been a change of plans." He said matching her tone. He bent closer to her ear and whispered something. Just as he finished, he kissed her on the cheek. Her face turned red again with anger, embarrassment, maybe both. . He didn't do it because he liked her or anything, mind you. But she could probably see why he had done it; Heisuke and Ayumi had walked back in just as he was finishing up and because she was his 'lover' he had to make it seem like he was saying something romantic. Nevertheless, it didn't stop her from smashing his head into the ground. "Since you don't want to give her the antidote yet. You're going to have to carry her to the inspection room." Heisuke said as opened up the doorway again. He walked into it, Ayumi followed suit.

"Follow me." He said.

Okita and Kagura both nodded their heads.

Plan K has begun.

**Well here's the first half of All's Fun in Love and War**

The next chapter should come sooner but I can't promise that

Please leave a review, constructive criticism preferred.

They help me become a much better writer, so the story is much more enjoyable

Ja ne~ -rides away on the Gin-bike-


	5. Your Past Is Your Stalker

Well at least I didn't make you wait (**rreeeaaalllly**) long this time *shot* 8'D

LIKE **ALWAYS **THANKS FOR THE REVIEWS MY CANDIES~

Just to clarify something; the reason it skipped to plan k was because each plan simulated different things that could happen and plan k involved if one of them were disabled. I also like to randomly letter plans for no reason, so it'd maybe be plan a then plan g and then plan u. Choose which ever one you like better xD

I hope I don't confuse you guys this time ;3;

**Dude if owned Gintama then…..I don't even…but what matters is that; gintama would be a complete fail if I owned it. So this is why I don't**

**Your Past Is Your Stalker**

Kagura was frustrated.

No wait that wasn't the right word, she was _extremely_ _frustrated_.

The sole cause of it was none other than the sadist himself.

He wouldn't give her the damn antidote to fix her damn legs. And it didn't just stop right there, oh no, the sadist had to carry her on his back of all things. She let out a small gasp and tensed up when she felt his calloused yet at the same time soft hand grip the back of her thighs. "Hurry up and wrap your arms around me." He deadpanned. This wasn't the first time he had ever touched her but for whatever reason, she felt her body temperature go up at least a couple degrees.

Must be the poison.

Hesitantly, she snaked around his necks, noting how easily he lifted her up off the ground. "Interesting I thought for sure you would weigh at least a ton considerin— loosen your grip I'm going to choke!" He said as he effortlessly, excluding a few stumbles he made when she wouldn't release her grasp, caught up with Heisuke and Ayumi who had already exited the room.

It was like they were in a chamber of never ending spirals and twists. Maybe it wasn't even that long but her anxiety was making it that way. It could have been either one, it didn't matter really. But the apprehension she felt about Plan k was making her stomach do back-flips. Not that it was some overly complex plan, like breaking into some important building (filled with sunboku, oho~!); it truly was more comparable to middle school kid's plan. But the point was that it required something she had difficulty with: control...

Her mind wondered off; why did they get caught up in to this mess? She could have been back at home right now with Gin-chan, doing some random jobs and maybe, just maybe, meeting up with the sadist and starting their usual fights. She rested her head on top of his and moved her arms to hang on his shoulders, almost unconsciously, she started sniffing his hair; it smelled nice, like sakura blossoms.

"China, could you stop trying to eat my hair." At that moment Kagura was glad they were in a dark place and he couldn't see the blush that was spreading across her cheeks. She heard Ayumi try to stifle her laughter. What was wrong with her? Randomly smelling his hair like that! Nevertheless that didn't make her lift her head off instead she just pretended she couldn't hear him and adjusted herself on his back.

Such soft hair, she mused as she nuzzled her nose on it.

"China, could you please stop." The flaxen haired boy whispered.

"Hey you stupid excuse-for-a-guard, how long is this going to take." Kagura ignored his request. "We're almost there." Heisuke said stopping right in his tracks, almost causing Okita to collide in to his back.

A door opened to their left.

A burst of bright light assaulted their eyes.

No sooner did they hear a voice call out; "I've been waiting for this moment for long time."

Kagura was barely able to make out what happened after that. All she could remember was that once their eyes adjusted to the light Ayumi and Heisuke were gone and replaced by several mercenaries. Then everything just faded to black, looks like things weren't going to go as planned…

"Its good to see you again, Kagura-chan…" The voice trailed on.

Who was talking?

It sounded familiar.

Sapphire eyes opened slowly to catch a view of who ever was talking but only to find the sadist, knocked out and covered in bruises, laying a couple meters away from her. "Sadist?" She attempted to crawl towards him; only to find she had been tied to a very solid object. "Not so fast Kagura-chan." The same voice breathed in her ear which made her skin crawl. "Did you miss me? Do you remember me?..." She noticed a body come within her line of vision. It was a young boy, probably around her age, with mop of short floppy fiery red hair to match his azure eyes that were saturated with blood-lust; the eyes of a yato clansmen.

"Tatsuya?"

Hearing that single word, the boy smiled "you do remember!"

"What the hell are you doing here?" Kagura tried to scoot away from him but failed. She remember, even after all these years, he was still a ticking time bomb; one wrong word could set him off. She made a quick glance at Okita; he probably figured that out first-hand. She took a glimpse at their surroundings, but being that she only had a small dull light bulb hanging from the ceiling, she couldn't see much; although it seemed as though they were in some sort of storage room. "Kagura-chan, I missed you so much." He said as he lifting their hands together in the air linking them slowly. He brought up their joined hands to rub against his cheek.

A very slow minute went by before he dropped her hands.

"Why did you leave me alone…on that forsaken planet?" He tilted his head innocently; his smile wearing thin as he started bending her index finger back.

_Snap_.

She let out a sharp gasp.

She hated this, she felt like a trapped rabbit in the eyes of a hungry predator. But she knew he didn't mean it. He was still mad her leaving him. She just had to calm him down and (beat the shit out of him) talk to him.

"Why, Kagura-chan, why…" He let go of her hand once more.

"I ha-" she tried to explain however, Tatsuya gripped her neck making it nearly impossible to breathe let alone speak.

"I know you came here to become an alien hunter like your dad." His face held a sad smile.

Kagura thrashed about trying pry off his fingers but it proved futile. Ever so slowly, Tatsuya released his vice-grip on her and lightly traced the hand-mark he had imprinted on her skin. "You've grown up so much Kagura-chan." She shivered and her breathing hitched up as his agile fingers moved until they were about to reach…

"STOP…TOUCHING HER!" Okita flew up from behind him and gave him a solid blow to his side. Tatsuya landed a couple meters away from Kagura. The panting samurai took a quick look at her and staggered towards her. He fell to his knees once he got to her feet. Tatsuya sat up and stared at the man, smirking.

Kagura felt her heart rate rise as she could do nothing and watched the scene unfold before her.

"Ora, ora…Is _my_ Kagura-chan special to you?" his voice was dripping in malice as he licked some blood from his mouth.

_Wrong move, sadist!_

He gave Okita no room to answer and swiftly tried to land a punch on the battered sadist.

Just by a centimeter Okita was able to evade the punch and looked at his attacker with scorching burgundy eyes. "No, I'm just not a big fan of watching a psychotic pervert touch a girl's virtually-nonexistent chest. And besides **China is my toy**; no one's allowed to touch her except me." He barely managed to put a smirk on that scratched-up face of his. Kagura let a light blush dust her cheeks; whether out of embarrassment or angry at the fact she was claimed to be the sadist's property, she didn't know. Tatsuya lunged at the boy before him in annoyance and gave head-butt so strong; Kagura could have sworn she saw the whites of Okita's eyes before he fell to the floor, once again.

"Okita!" Kagura strained against her confinements.

Tatsuya turned to face her.

"Kagura-chan, now that I found you why don't we go back home together?" He smiled.

"I won't, idiot you know that!" She had no idea where the spite in her voice came from but she didn't care.

Tatsuya's smile disappeared as if it was never there in the first place. "Why not, hmm, why Kagura, why?" He took a quick glance at Okita. "It's because of him, isn't it?" A split open on his face in the semblance of Cheshire cat. "If he's out of the picture then we can go back to being the way it was."

"Don't! He means nothing to me!" Kagura felt those cold hands once again grip onto her throat, only for moment. "Liar!" He got up and stalked towards Okita. "I know how close you guys are." He suspended the now conscious swordsmen in the air with one hand, firmly clenched around his neck. The flaxen haired swordsmen struggled fiercely against him but it was obvious he had barely any strength left.

Kagura could feel her heart pounding against her chest. She almost wished it could leave her body so she could feel nothing, void of any emotion: anxiety, fear, panic, rage…

"Get your dirty hands off me." Okita spat out, still struggling.

Tatsuya ignored him. His cold blue eyes shifted to Kagura.

"I saw how you guys acted while confined inside that room. Don't lie to me Kagura-chan. What is he to yo-" The sadist kneed his jaw. Tatsuya let go of him. Okita took this chance and gave him a punch, which probably had shattered his nose.

Tatsuya clamped his bleeding face. "Enough." Was all he said right before he vanished. Okita frantically searched the room around with his eyes. Kagura saw a glint from the corner of the room; she felt her chest constrict. She knew what was going to happen. And there was nothing she could do about it.

Nothing.

No, she had to do something.

But what could she do; tied up and partially paralyzed.

All she could do is watch like a little weakling.

"Stop it!" She called out. It was heard upon death ears.

Tatsuya reappeared in front of Okita who surprised him with a kick. Tatsuya dodged it and returned the attack with a punch to his stomach. She watched the sadist double over and violently cough up blood.

Kagura's vision started to blur.

As much as she didn't want to hurt Tatsuya, she couldn't forgive him for what he had done. "He's dying Kagura-chan, now you can come back with me." He had that same innocent grin he had on years ago. The same one he had after he had killed her old pet rabbit. "China." Okita called out to her but was sadly interrupted when the fiery-haired boy kicked him in the stomach, stopping any possible comment. "Just hurry up and die."

The sadist was about to die and all she did was watch.

She had to punish Tatsuya….

Kagura felt the rope binding her snap like thin pieces of thread as she bolted towards the laughing boy.

Her body was moving faster than her thoughts.

One minute she was right in front of Tatsuya's surprised face

_Blank. _

Next she saw Tatsuya climbing out of the stone wall.

_Blank. _

He was trapped between the wall and the torrent of punches she was delivering.

_Blank_.

He dodged one punch and kicked her in the stomach and ran towards her.

_Blank_.

Her arm was extended upwards and he was in the air.

_Blank_.

They were in a small crater and she stood on top of his heaving chest. He was writhing in pain, desperately calling out her name. It was useless. He deserved all the pain he was receiving to his body…and heart: just as he had done to her. The maniacal grin on her face—she hadn't even known was there—faltered.

Why did her heart ache?

Sanity washed back over her as she stepped out of the crater, leaving the bleeding boy. "Why" she heard Tatsuya rasp out. She saw his trembling body crawl out of the hole. "Why do you love him and not me? What makes him so special? Tell me!" Tears made their way out of his eyes. He fisted the ground making a tiny indent as the other hand clutched on to his searing abdomen. "Ever since you said you wanted to be an alien hunter and disappeared, I became the bad guy, just so we could meet up again. I didn't want to sell those kids but you were more important than that! All those years we've been friends….All this time I liked you…Why him?" The room went quiet.

She didn't hear him nor did she care to answer; she knew he wouldn't be able to hear her, for he was lost in his own world, wallowing in his own pathetic misery. She stared at the sadist with a new profound curiosity and the panting samurai stared back with a hidden look of concern and astonishment. "Looks like you got ass handed to you." She smirked despite how much her face hurt. He opened his mouth to make comeback but the thin mischievous fingers of silence chocked out his voice and she knew exactly why.

There a crimson strand of light was shining directly at his bloodstained chest; she could feel the same organ in his chest quicken its beats in her chest again. "Watch out!" Okita managed to say. He stood quickly and made a beeline towards her. Kagura was confused, why should she watch out?

Too late, she was still too baffled to react quickly enough. One second she heard two gunshots. The next second the sadist's body was hugging her front and they were both falling backwards. Kagura ignored the shock her body felt when a liquid inked out of his skin and seeped into her dress. "Why the hell did you protect me? I heal much faster than you!" She yelled. Okita lifted up his head from her shoulder and looked at her sapphire orbs. "A bullet through your heart…will even kill the likes of you… idiot. And if there's anyone who's going to kill you…that'll be me." He said with hoarse voice. He rolled off of her, laying on his back, and closed his eyes. Kagura sat up and watched his chest move up and down in slightly irregular patters; signaling that he was still alive...but not for long if he kept bleeding out like that.

"Were-"

"I wasn't hit full-on. Just a graze…a really bad one" He answered her before the question can even leave her lips.

"Then-"

"I'm just waiting for our shooters to shows them—" He answered her once again.

"Looks we've got some interesting merchandise on our hands." A dark voice rang though the room. Kagura saw a shadow detach itself from the corner in the form of a huge muscular mass. Once it stepped closer to the dim lighting of the room, shadows receded from portions of his but Kagura could still make out its distinct features. A scar ran down from the corner of his right eye to the lower left of his jaw. His skin was a sickly green and tattooed in odd-looking symbols and designs. Blotches of orangey-yellow were presented on his forearms and biceps. And those ears—they appeared like they were ripped of some huge mutant green bat and stuck on his head with some hairy glue. All in all, he looked like Piccolo's (DBZ) long—very lost crazy uncle. "Kiddies like you'll sell for a pretty good price, ya see." He pointed his gun at the crater where Tatsuya still lay. "He did a good job watchin' y'all and trickin' those other kiddies. But I don'ts approve of him trying to keep ones to himself. And now he's gone and got ones almost killed. He gon' pay fer that." A grizzly smile adorned his face. "But nots 'till I takes care of da merchandise." He finished.

A breeze of air hit her from behind.

_Click_.

Kagura felt the muzzle of a gun prod against the back of her head.

"I think they've seen too much." That voice it sounded like that stupid guard who took Ayumi.

The metallic scent of blood radiated off of his person. But whose blood was it…Ayumi's? It better not be. "Teme where's Ayumi?" The two paid her no heed. "Oi, Heisuke where's the old man?" The green bodybuilder asked "On a one way trip to the underworld." His voice held no remorse whatsoever. "Ha, ha, ha, your own papa? Ya humans truly are greedy beings!" He laughed. Heisuke laughed an even darker wicked laugh. "That old man finally went senile. Saying crap like 'let's stop selling kids, Heisuke. You've got enough money to last you a lifetime.' What a fool. A man can never have enough money!"

Kagura spun around and gave him an icy glare, not caring if the gun was still pushed against her head. "What a pathetic old man you are! I bet even Madao wouldn't spit in your direction." She saw that cocky little smirk on his face falter even if it was just for a second. "Who do think you are, so quick to judge me? We just met." He said pulling back the trigger. Kagura inwardly gulped but her face held no fear.

"It doesn't take a lot of time to know what trash is once you see it." The voice came from right beside her.

"Sadist?" Kagura blinked.

The green-man's features showed he was surprised but nevertheless amused.

Heisuke cringed over in pain at his possible broken hand.

Okita just ignored their reactions and ripped the end of his sleeve. He wrapped it tightly around his upper arm acting a temporary bandage.

"Now China, why don't you step back and let the policeman arrest these sad excuses."

**So how do you like it so far? 8D**

Please excuse any of my mistakes (which are a lot)

Okay well this isn't my original plot but I thought this was nice, a little complex yes but, nice no less twist to put in ~3~

Sorry if you think they're too OOC, I was in a mood and listening to grenade during the fighting scenes and some other parts plus I need to re-watch the anime.

Tatsuya was a spur of the moment from the music lawl

Just in case this helps; think of Tatsuya like a porcupine, who thinks he's a rabbit. (That doesn't help does it?)

You probably hate him right now but I think he's adorable like Belphagor333 (from khr)

Your reviews make me very happy so please review


	6. Purpose of life

**Aloha~ my wonderful readers C8**

**How are you? Doing well I hope**

**As always THANKS FOR THE REVIEWS, they make me so happy =w=**

**But I'm really sorry I'm losing passion for this story T.T that's why it takes so long to update and is practically half-assed SORRY once again :[**

***Warning the fighting sequences suck . and this was not beta-ed –double fail-***

**Sorachi-sama owns Gintama**

"**The ****purpose of life**** is to live a life of purpose"**

* * *

Okita slowly removed his hand from his makeshift bandage.

"You're under arrest, drop your weapons and slowly put your hands in the air. But so I can avoid paperwork and _legally_ be allowed to kick your butts, please resist my arrest." He deadpanned, a mischievous glint dancing through his wine irides.

He heard the Amanto-positive that it wasn't China- behind him snort, if you could call it that. "Well then I'll jist sit murself down hur fer a better view." It said followed by a loud 'thud'—meaning that Piccolo-like monster dared to sit down! Heisuke, himself, just stood up flexing his right hand—the one that wasn't bruised or possibly broken. "You must have lost almost all the blood in your head but let me explain, you are at a _clear _disadvantage."

He was right.

Okita's body was aching.

His vision was blurred.

And more importantly he was tired.

All Okita wanted to do now was slip into the tempting embrace of darkness and obliviousness.

He could feel it begin to wrap around him, coaxing him.

_Just give up…nothing you can do...sleep…give up…it's all over…. _It softly whispered in his ears, echoing the last three words.

But that was just it.

"Stupid Sadist, you're gonna need my help" He heard China say from behind. Sougo didn't even need to look back to know she was smiling. He knew it was there, he could sense it. Of course she was relived that his awesome self was here.

It wasn't over.

Heisuke fisted his hand and attempted a punch. Okita leered, capturing the offending fist as the blonde man tried to recoil his hand back—unsuccessfully. Sougo let go of the hand just in time to deliver a roundhouse kick to Heisuke's unsuspecting face.

Making such a delightful face after just one hit—technically it was a kick—to the face in front Okita, this man surely didn't know he was about to deal with the prince.

"Exactly who's the one at a disadvantage?"

Okita heard his blue eyed 'toy' scoff behind him. "China, my playtime's begun, so why don't you go make yourself useful and find Ayumi?"

"Sadist, don't just go bossing me around!" But none the less did he hear her scamper off.

As long as he was able to fight, he had to protect China. That was his duty as a police officer. But…this obligation felt different compared to all the other people he ever protected on and off the job. All the other times, he wasn't _entirely_ willing to give his life for them. Yet, when it came to her, he felt as if he would give it without a second thought but at the same time refuse to do so and try to find a way where they both make it through.

Was there a word or feeling for that sort of thing…feeling?

_It's called __**love, **__nothing else idiot_.

_We knew what it was; we just didn't want to think about it._

_No, we didn't know. How could we have possibly known?_

Who was talking? He knew it couldn't have been any of the people within the vicinity of the room.

That was when it dawned onto him…It was him who was talking. Well technically his inner self…err selves were doing the talking. Oh god, he was just like Hijikata-san and that Toshi Incident. But at least his inner personas were twins, better and **much less** dorky.

_Can a monster like us even love? _Itzal's voice chimed in his head.

He, in fact, was a monster. Sure, he had on numerous occasions called China a monster but she truly wasn't. You know, once you look past that beastly strength of hers and that **huge** but plain appetite, she was practically a normal teenage girl with laughing blue eyes.

_Shut up, of course we can, we had loved our sister, didn't we? _Argued Konani.

_This is a different kind of love...Not the kind we can feel, let alone receive._

Those cerulean orbs so full of…innocence.

Innocence he himself had lost years ago; innocence he wanted to protect.

_But we can't possibly do that, can we? _Itzal laughed.

_Maybe not forever but China can protect herself sometimes, she's not some weakling. _His other side retorted.

_Though it may not seem like it at times but China is a __**girl**__, there are things she shouldn't have to deal with, like us for example or he… _finished Itzal.

Sougo stared at Heisuke's pained face, in complete bliss a sadistic smirk etched into his face.

Oh~ how fun this was going to be.

_Very~ _Both Konani and Itzal jeered finally becoming one. Well at least one thing they had in common was that they owned the title: Prince of Sadists.

"Seems like I need to teach you where your place is, _slave_." Heisuke managed to put a confident smile on his face, as if he actually had something up his sleeve—maybe he did. Okita instinctively put his hand to his scabbard…which was no longer there since his imprisonment.

That was a problem.

But a good samurai/police officer always carries a concealed weapon with him, right? Then consider him a bad one in this case only ('cause in all other cases he was superior). Heisuke pulled a small black box out from his pants pocket. "Now once this over, I'll make sure to put you in a _nice _suitable place." He said quickly pressing the single button. As soon as he did that, Okita raised his arms to shield himself from blinding light that suddenly appeared. And just as soon as it came it was gone.

He noticed no longer was it just him and the others anymore inside that room but now another fifty or so people had encompassed him. "Now that you've gone and done that, this show's not going to be as fun—Oh wait I gots some' in' for ya kid." said the green man, who Okita had begun to forget about. He pivoted on his left heel to put the burly moss-colored man in his view but made sure Heisuke was in his vision also. The man pulled out something from his back — it was his katana! — And tossed it to Okita who skillfully caught it. "Was plannin' on givin' it to the kiddies back home but guess I'll clean it once your dead." He chuckled.

The atmosphere of the room instantly grew malicious. Okita slowly unsheathed his blade marveling it for a moment. Fortunately (or unfortunately depending how you looked at it) this provoked one of the mercenaries. He charged towards Okita, fist coiling back, ready to make a hit. The others merely watched the man get cut down in seconds. They all came at him once their comrade's body hit the grown, as if using him was a green light to let all havoc run loose…

* * *

The room resonated with clangs of metal on metal and/or metal on skin. The sweet yet sickly smell of metal and blood filled the air. The muffled but ever-so-present melody of sadistic laughter expressed at least one combatant's enjoyment. His impish smile shone off his eyes. Sweat slid down his forehead, effectively gluing some of his mahogany strands there.

This was Okita's playground.

It looked similar to the one he had had on that train when his squad turned against him. Difference between those to wad that he felt far less remorse on this playing field.

_45~ _Konani cheered_. _

Okita made a diagonal slash a man.

_46! _Itzal smirked.

Sougo dropped his katana feigning surprise. One of the mercenaries took this as a chance to capture off the head of the 1st division captain of the Shinsengumi. Okita made a back flip kicking the man square on his jaw. He used his right hand as an axel and unleashed a whirlwind of kicks, successfully landing them on four other enemies. With a flick of his wrist the blood on his blade spattered off. He returned it back to its scabbard now that the mercenaries were either dead or knocked out cold.

50! ~ The twins in his head shared a high-five before disappearing off to wherever imaginary personas went.

The fight could have been much shorter but where was the fun in that? As entertaining as it was all the pain he had felt was multiplied by 50. But now it was time to find that blond idiot. Now where was he? He heard a shift in movement. Okita quickly turned to face the forgotten Amanto. A little too quickly did he turn because he felt his legs give out underneath him. "Nice job kid. Looks likes I gots ta play a part in this." He said clenching his hands together. He swiftly raised his arms— Okita couldn't move away quick enough—and it came down just as just fast. The police officer closed his eyes waiting for the blow.

It never came.

"Oi samurai boy, what are you doing just standing there?" said a soft masculine voice, definitely not the oversized green-man. Okita's eyes snapped open to stare at the short redhead before him before catching a glance at the now unconscious burly alien behind him. The younger male came up to him stretching out his hand. "Just trying to help. If I wanted to kill you, would have done it." Tatsuya bluntly stated. This coming from the boy who tried to kill him just because he got jealous. Okita hesitated a bit before taking the offering hand. His body was easily lifted from the slick flooring.

Where's Kagura-chan and Ayumi?" The boy said.

Okita shrugged. "Beats me. Why did you help me?"

"If you die, Kagura-chan and Ayumi'll be sad. Simple as that."

"Why do you care about Ayumi all of a sudden? Just an hour ago, it was all about China."

"That's because Tatsuya was present and as of now I'm Tatsu."

"Huh?"

The two boys stopped, feeling someone else's present in the room. "Oi Sadist~ still alive? Didn't get your ass hand to you like I predicted? You know your not suppose to die till I kill ya right?" called out a very distinct voice. "Shut up you noisy woman. Of course I'm still here and I'm supposed to be saying that to you." Okita replied. "What's going on? Where am I? Why's Hei-chan sleeping on the ground? " It was Ayumi. The two females emerged from the left. Kagura being the first he saw with Ayumi on her back and the stupid excuse for a living creature knocked out and being dragged by the lady beast.

China momentarily stared at Okita before looking at the redhead. "So its Tatsu this time huh…go get me a phone." Okita was a bit taken back though his face didn't show. Tatsu was gone in an instant before reappearing. "Here's a phone." Tatsu tossed it to him. Okita just barely caught it.

He walked away to the nearest wall of the room to put some space between himself and the others. His finger pressed against key numbers on the keypad. Luckily, he had memorized the number for his sight was getting really hazy.

"Yamazaki-"

"Okita-taichou? See I told you Hijikata the mayonnaise-god didn't turning Okita-taichou in their slave!"

"Listen, trace this call and bring about 10 or so trucks…and some medical help."

"What's going—?"

Okita hung up the telephone and leaned against the wall. He was really staring to feel dizzy.

10 minutes went by and he was feeling more worst by the second. Anemia sucked.

"Sadist, you okay?" He heard China but didn't care to answer.

"Okita!" Sougo opened his eyes not realizing when he had closed them.

"…what? I got a really bad headache can you please be quiet." He slumped down on the wall feeling much more comfortable sitting down. A shiver crawled up his spine. Damn the reinforcements better hurry up…China crouched down beside him. "Ne sadist…od ouy lkei em?"

"Wha…" His conscious was fleeting. He tried to grab on to it but fatigue was quicker, stripping away his sight sending him to the land of dreams or at least that's where he wanted to go.

* * *

**Soooo~**

Whadda ya think? Suckish right because I seriously feel that way but I refused to make you wait any longer.

I _promise _the next chappie won't take so long

Any questions? Just ask I'm willing to answer them..; 3

Bye bi~


	7. Truth

Well it hasn't been 4 months since I last updated this story soooo my promise was fulfilled 8DD *parties*

Really I wanted to update the on Okita's birthday; I was getting ahead of myself, now looking back on it. But I have some excuse on why it came late…since I'm also a (novice) amv maker; I had mep parts and a couple ICs to do. Also I went on a Hetalia-high since last week. Well whatever this is up so, please excuse any mistakes—which I bet they're a lot of.

**Gintama doesn't belong to me, that's why it's on Fanfiction but I have a question. Has anybody, like, got in trouble for not putting up a disclaimer? That's pretty stupid if they have. Not that I mind reading the ones with jokes on them…**

* * *

**Truth**

Or the full title

**Sometimes the Truth Hurts Like a Kick to the Groin but that's 'Cause You Deserve It**

* * *

Impatient fingers tapped on the chair. The constant beeps of the heart monitor and hum of other various machines reminding her where she was.

Why was the sadist taking so long to wake up? At least he had woken up after fainting at the storage room but, only long enough to point at Ayumi, Heisuke Tatsu and her, saying "Captive, criminal, question mark…China." which gave few details on what had happened.

Kagura watched his chest move up and down in slow, regular patterns. Her eyes gazed at the IV running up his bandaged hand.

How long has it been since she saw those mocking brown eyes?

"Okita…" She whispered.

Her fingers bit into her palm as she let out a sigh of frustration.

Uhh, she _absolutely_ hated waiting!

If only she had come back quicker…

* * *

_She was running through a corridor. Definitely not the same one they had entered before the ambush. "Ayumi!" She yelled, wondering if she was going to receive a reply. Her thoughts drifted off to the sadist she left behind._

_Was he okay? _

_Why did she leave him alone to fight that huge Amanto and the blond traitor? Now, where was thinking like that going to get her? The sadist trusted her to get Ayumi. But why did she follow his orders?_

_It was because…she trusted him…almost like how she trusted Gin-chan. Trusting her one and only rival—ah, there she goes using the word 'trust'. No way, she just believed he was capable to keep himself from getting killed, that's all, right_? _She stopped by a door chained by locks, labeled 'AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY'._

"_Ayumi!" She said hoping she was in there and alright. _

"_Nee-chan?" She heard from behind the door._

"_Move away from the door, I'm gonna get you out." Kagura raised her foot preparing to kick down the door when suddenly she jumped to the right, narrowly missing a brass fist aiming towards her head. She glared at her attacker. Said attacker removed his fist from the crater he just created, his other arm hanging limply—guess the sadist had broken it. A cocky smile etched into his face. "What?" He coiled back his fist as Kagura went into a defensive stance. _

"_Hei-chan? Is everything okay out there?" Ayumi called out. _

"_Yeah it's all fine, just need to take care of something. Please put back on your headphones..."Heisuke answered momentarily losing his malicious aura. _

"_Okay ~ is nee-chan out there?"_

"_Nope, so, put them back on okay?"_

_There was no reply this time. Kagura took this time to say "Seems like she doesn't know about your dirty deeds." She smirked. "She doesn't need to, its better that way." Heisuke took no time to try and make a punch on her. The yato female easily dodged, taking his outstretched and flipped him over. He got back up, trying to put another futile blow on her. She counteracted by a mid-reverse roundhouse kick to the metal plate on his abdomen, shattering it to pieces. Heisuke knelled on the floor, coughing. _

"_How can a small girl like you be so strong?"_

"_My heart's not corrupted." And also the fact that she was part of an elite clan._

"_You wouldn't understand." His cobalt eyes burned with a new found passion. He got back up again this time, zealously. "You wouldn't understand…this is for her. She came back; I don't care what happens to anyone else." He yelled. Heisuke removed his pistol from it holster. He fired quickly; seeming to not quite caring about his aim. Kagura dodged them fairly easily since she knew most wouldn't hit her. Well that's if none of them ricocheted which is what a stray bullet did. It grazed her shoulder catching her off guard. _

_Heisuke took this chance and slammed her into the wall opposite to Ayumi's door. He had her in a pinned to the wall. His arm was pushed against her throat, her air supply running low. His arm was well protected so she couldn't bite him. Thus she followed her other option. She raised her leg and kicked him. Right. Where. It. Hurts. "Domestic Violence! ~ (1)" She shouted. It was an attack that aimed for the opponent's crouch, striking it about eight consecutive times. But she only struck once. _

"_That's foul play!" He grunted._

"_No, it's not. It's not my fault that males have a target hanging between their legs." Kagura head butted the moaning blond, knocking him out. Though she would never understand that kind of hurt, she knew it had to be quite painful. She went back to the door, banging on it violently._

"_Ayumi!"_

"_Nee…chan?"_

"_Move away from the door now!" The redhead kicked down the door, eyes searching the room. Confused sapphire orbs glowed in the darkness. Ayumi stepped out into the better light, a white and black wireless headphone was wrapped around her neck. Kagura looked past her and saw the soft glow was coming from a tv showing what looked like that tv show—'One Park'. So this is where and what she was doing. _

"_Kagura-nee-chan, weren't you visiting jii-san?" _

"_Come with me." She grabbed her hand and bolted through the hallway, unceremoniously dragging along an unconscious body. They had to make it back to the sadist before he did something stupid. Wait but didn't she just believe that he was capable of defending himself. _

_If she 'trusted' him then why was this fluttery feeling in her chest?_

_They arrived just in time to see the huge Amanto fall to the ground. "Oi Sadist~ still alive? Didn't get your ass hand to you like I predicted? You know your not suppose to die till I kill ya right?" She said it in a sarcastic tone but she was silently hoping the words played true. "Shut up you noisy woman. Of course I'm still here and I'm supposed to be saying that to you." Was the sadist's replied. "What's going on? Where am I? Why's Hei-chan sleeping on the ground?" Kagura let go of Ayumi's hand gazing at the sandy-haired samurai. _

_She saw him panting, trying to hide his pain. It bugged her, so she looked at the redhead beside him. He had a calm appearance. "_So _its Tatsu this time huh…go get him a phone." She was glad he switched out. It would've been a pain to deal with the other. Once the boy came back, she tossed the mobile to the officer. _

_He walked away from them, Kagura followed suit. It was safe to leave Ayumi with Tatsu; maybe the two already knew each other. He spoke with some person and then hung up, stumbling a bit to lean on a wall. _

_Minutes went by in silence between them. _

"_Sadist, you okay?" She said._

_He didn't answer. _

"_Okita?" Sougo opened his eyes. _

"…_what? I got a really bad headache can you please be quiet." He slid down on the wall feeling much more comfortable sitting down. Kagura saw him shiver as she crouched down beside him. "Ne sadist… do you hate me?"_

_Maybe there was a chance._

_His body slumped over._

"_Okita!" She panicked. His face had gone pale and cool to the touch. _

_Tatsu and Ayumi rushed over to his side as a barrage of sirens attacked her eardrums. Did that group of idiots finally come or was that sound her heart? _

"_Kagura!" Gin-chan? She turned towards the direction of the voice. Stupid silver hair, dead fish eyes; yup it was that stupid samurai, alright, along with Shinpachi. A drop of water hit her wrist. _

_Huh, when did she start crying and why? It couldn't be for someone like the sadist. She was just glad to see the others, that's all. But if so then, why did her heart felt so heavy? _

* * *

"Um excuse me; I'm here to change Okita-san's bandages…" A nurse stepped in with a cart, unknowingly dispelling the teenage girl's flashback. She didn't wait for a reply and went over by his side. "Is this man someone special to you?" Kagura noticed her fingers were laced with his and instantly pulled away.

"…" She truly didn't know anymore.

The nurse picked up the clipboard, reading it quietly, or so she thought. "Okita Sougo; eighteen years; hairline cracks on shoulder and wrist, broken index finger, lacerations on the chest area, plantar fasciitis and had a blood transfusion." Her words echoed in Kagura's head as she silently watched the nurse began to remove the dirty bandages and dropped them on the cart. The teen winced a bit at seeing the scars and discoloration on his chest.

"I noticed you've been coming here since he was admitted, you're his girlfriend, right? How cute, sticking by his side~ though it's terrible what happened to him…" The nurse softly smiled at her as she continued to re-bandage the wounds.

She shouldn't be talking like that; she didn't even know them for crying out loud!

The redhead stood up abruptly. "I have to go." Walking out of the room, she made her way to the Yorozuya.

* * *

"Hi~ Gin-chan, Pachi, Ayumi…" She said enthusiastically, the other occupants took no notice of her.

"Ayumi-chan, what is that you're eating?" Gintoki's eye twitched in disbelief.

"Mmph." Said girl just continued eating the contents in of the pink carton into her mouth.

"Let me ask again, what _is _that _you're _eating?" He said.

Ayumi stopped eating and looked at the naturally-permed male. "Ice cream" she giggled, taking a small scoop of the pink solid, pulling back on the circular part of the spoon. She let it go instantly, hitting a stunned samurai right on the forehead. Gintoki slowly raised his hand to touch the liquid running down his face. He looked at it as if it was his own blood. Knowing him, it probably was like that in his sugar-coated/corrupted mind.

_3 seconds later. _

Kagura let out a loud laugh as Shinpachi tried but failed at holding back—"Gin-san, she's just a little girl!"—the fuming Gin-chan. He lifted the nine year old by the collar of her black brocade shirt—the one Kagura let her use because her yukata was dirty and the shirt was a size too small for Kagura herself. "You ate my last ice cream, my lifeline!" He yelled, shaking her like a madman. "I overheard you talking to someone he said if you don't stop eating sweets, you'll die-of-bees." She replied. "Its diabetes, got it? Did the doctor send you here? It's a conspiracy isn't it?" Gintoki let go of the girl and sat on the couch, dejectedly.

Ayumi scampered off to the kitchen as Kagura flopped herself unceremoniously down on the couch opposite to Gintoki.

"Damn that mayo-freak too, 'She needs to stay here since she's an important witness' my ass! I ain't a babysitter. Why doesn't he take care of her?"

"It's not like you got much to do anyway."

"And…You—" Gintoki pointed an accusing finger at Kagura. "You've been completely gone at first for 1½ days, and then you've been practically at the hospital for the last 3 days—almost 5 days in total you've been with that sadist... Don't tell me this is Stockholm syndrome. This papa's aging heart can't handle this anymore! Why are teens so rebellious when they fall love? I wanna go back to the stage when she thought boys were yucky, Mama!" exclaimed the sliver samurai using his forearm to cover his mock-tears for a dramatic effect.

Sometimes, Gin-chan really comes up with strange ideas. The yato female crossed her arms and let out a huff. Funny how she wasn't denying the fact that she _might _lik…not hate the sadist.

"Who would be the Mama, is it—" Megane was interrupted.

"Stupid perm!" She interjected.

Said stupid perm left out a loud snort.

"Ma, calm down Kagura-chan. Gin-san was just worried about you…"

"There's nothing to worry about, hopeless otaku…Don't you have something non-annoying to do, megane?"

Shinpachi's eye twitched. "Sometimes I wonder if you truly think I am just a pair of glasses."

"Sorry" The silver samurai said, the background fading to show just a pair of glasses similar to the ones Shinpachi had one. "But sometimes when you look at the mirror; you might wanna see a different person but no matter what you'll see your own cruel, undistorted reflection. Geez, you think after all these years you'd understand that by now." Gintoki deadpanned while picking his nose. Kagura let out a grunt in agreement.

The teen felt his eye twitch again. Well that's what he gets for trying to make Gin-chan seem like the 'I give a damn about stuff' kind of guy, Kagura mused. "Since I'm not needed here; I'm off to buy Otsu-chan's new limited edition CD. I hear some of them come with a special prize. I wonder what it is." Shinpachi said making an expression crossed between a pervert and the one Gorri-I mean Kondo makes when eating a banana at the last part.

She turned to face the samurai. "Maybe I should tell Ayumi-chan where you hide your candy stash." Kagura sneered.

"You wouldn't dare…" Gintoki adopted a look of horror. The redhead got up and went to the recently awoken Sadaharu, stroking him. "Good, good boy…unlike someone…" mumbling the last part to herself.

"Oh I already know where it's at. It's underneath a fake bottom in the third drawer on the left side of your desk." Ayumi said as she walked out of the kitchen, holding a small pink pint.

"How the hell would you know that?"

"My eyes see everything. Nothing can escape it. (2)" She laughed.

"And you've been reading my _Jump_, are you're trying to steal my soul, my heart? (2)"

The question went unanswered. "I'm sorry. I hid your one of them for later but you can have it backs." She innocently smiled, handing the small pint to the older man. Gintoki took it gingerly before snapping his hand back. "Wait a minute…I only had three and I already ate the other two. How you have possibly hidden one?" Ayumi continued to smile which made the samurai even more nervous.

"Aren't you going to take it? It's starting to melt, you know."

"Just take it you sweet-toothed idiot." Kagura groaned, picking her nose in a gintoki-ish manner and wiping it on Sadaharu when he wasn't looking.

"Nah, I don't want it."

Ayumi looked at the ceiling. "Creepy bat-lady, Gin-nii doesn't want this. What should I do?" She said.

"Saa-chan's not up here! But if she was then she would say to just keep asking." Answered the ceiling or whoever was up there. Obviously it was a stalker—a certain near and far sighted-masochistic-ninja stalker, if you were to pick at the details.

"Take it."

"No"

An opening in the ceiling reveling lavender-haired creeper, "Yes Gin-san take it! You're 'S' will come out an—" "I refuse!" A vein popped in his head as he threw the pink pint at her face. It splashed on her face like a water balloon, effectively silencing her. Her body fell on the floor and Gintoki quickly dragged her out to the door, slamming close once she was on the opposite side. He flopped back on the couch with a hand covering his eyes. "Now I got a headache."

A few minutes went in silence before he felt two heads shadow over his. He removed his arm to see two creepy face staring him dead in the face. One was green with bull horns protruding from its wild black mane with a frown slipping in between its two large tusks. The other was crimson with every part of its face curving in to a mischievous smile and an arrow going cleanly thought its head. Gintoki let out a rather unmanly scream, jerking his body forwards effectively giving the two jokesters a knock on the head. He slipped off the couch. "What the hell are you brats doing?" He said covering his bruised forehead. The red one took her mask off and soothed the growing bump on her head. Ayumi looked up at Kagura who was also taking off her mask.

"Nee-chan, I thought scaring someone got rid of headaches."

"Maybe" The red head shrugged. Didn't sound likely but who really cared?

Gintoki felt another tick mark grow on his head. "_Scaring _someone only works for hiccups, idiot."

"Oh really, I thought a kick to your _*bleep*_ got rid of those." Ayumi said as if nothing was absolutely wrong with what she just said. Kagura laughed as Gin-chan had one of those oh-my-gosh-why-do-I-keep-meeting-such-odd-people look on his face as he instinctively covered his crouch.

"Who told you that!"

"Mama! She said it works for other things too."

Gintoki let out a strangled cry, going to a corner of the room with a dejected expression. "Why are women in this anime/manga/fanfictions so vicious? Why can't we have those sweet ones like Haruka or even Uni? But no~ we got all these Onihimes, Sakuras and Izumos running around. (3)"

"Come on Ayumi-chan, let's go outside."

"Yeah!"

Kagura grabbed Ayumi's hand and bolted out the door, leaving the pathetic samurai with her sleepy Sadaharu and parasol that was once again not needed today.

* * *

Calm white and bright blue blended in the sky, making it look as if it was a painting rather than the actual sky itself. And stated by the object of Gin-chan's pathetic affections: there was a low chance in rain today. Yahoo~ now they could play outside for quite some time now. They walked past the vendors down the street— sometimes going to visit some of them— while Ayumi questioned everything in her sight. Kagura answered every inquiry. She was glad to bestow her vast knowledge on her cute underling. As their little stroll went on, she remembered that going to the park meant passing the same store that had gotten her and the sadist kidnapped, which pissed her off. An image of Okita laying the hospital assisted her thoughts.

When was he going to wake up? She knew it was anytime soon but why couldn't soon be now?

Her thoughts were interrupted when the presumed 9 year old asked another question. "Nee-chan, what's that? I think it might be a giant animal like Sadaharu but it wearing clothes, how awesome." She said pointed at the life form squirming on the floor near a vending machine.

Ayumi dragged her to said vending machine to get a better look. Unfortunately, it was a (pathetic) man in dirty clothing was shamelessly sprawled on the floor trying reach whatever was on the under the machine before anybody else could, like another Madao per say.

"Oh that thing, that's Madao." She said, feeling no disgrace in calling him that. Because that was just what he was, a useless old man who 99% of their character is glasses. Just like someone else, though he was an otaku. You might call her a bit harsh but hey, she calls them like she sees 'em.

The failure in life stood up and looked up at the two girls. "Oh hey there. Haven't seen you lately around lately, Gin-san's says you been visiting some boy at the hospital. Mah, it must be nice to experiencing first time love."

"You must taken one too many beaten from those loan sharks cuz I ain't in love, aru." Kagura snorted. That sentence left an odd feeling in her stomach.

"Anyway, is Gin-san home?"

"Why are ya gonna steal from our fridge again if he's not or gamble if he is?"

Ignoring the hurtful accusation, Madao glance down at the other cobalt eyed girl; her cheeks were blown out, a small frown sitting atop while two teardrops hanged at the corner of her eyes.

"Umm, is there reason why you've been glaring at me?"

"You killed Mace (4). Zoffy worked so hard to get him. Why did you hurt him? Being a pirate isn't so bad; they helps people a bunch of times. You big, big meanie." She finished her little outburst with a kick to his shin, not that it caused the man much pain. "Miss, I didn't kill anyone."

"Yes you did! Was it not important to you that you forgot?" Her shallow anger became disbelief.

"Man~ not only are you a useless old man; you make little girls cry. How terrible~" Kagura sneered.

"You know tha—"

"Come on let's go, Ayumi-chan" The redhead pulled the noirette (5) along. They just needed to walk another 10 meters before reaching the lovely oasis for children. At the stated destination, there were about seven other beings-who-believed-in-santa-and-whos-parents-still-told-them-that-getting-wasted-had-to-do-with-ice-cream or in other words, kids. "See those boys over there, Ayumi? They're my servants." She said pointing to them but the little girl wasn't paying attention. Instead, her eyes were stuck on a pair of men dressed in the Shinsengumi attire walking in the opposite direction to them. "Are those peoples Okita-nii-chan's friends?''She continued watching. "Probably not…Oh wait you mean them? I dunno" was her truthful reply.

The men were close enough that Kagura could hear their stupid conversation.

"And she was like 'how was I suppose to know, you needed that piece of junk!' Junk? Junk, she says!"

"Must be rough, but come on man, you gotta admit it was gettin' pretty old."

"Oh so you're siding with her? I can't believe you and here I thought my good friend would understand."

"Whatever. Anyway I heard Sano-san's doing the interrogation on that blond guy who's been selling off kids to Amantos."

"Oh really, that's guy's screwed. I heard the last guy he was interrogated was a tough one to crack. So, he 'accidently' broke a plate on his face and then just poured a bottle of rubbing alcohol on it. That's hardcore right there. There must have been so many burning cuts on that guys face."

"That guy's just as scary as Oni-taichou when he's interrogating, it's funny how serious a skirt-chaser can be."

"Yeah, I kn—"

The two entered some store so the rest of the chat went unheard. The yato female finally registered the tight, trembling grip on her hand. "You okay?" Kagura had a feeling she wasn't.

"They were talking about Hei-chan weren't they?"

"Maybe…"

"Can we go visit him, nee-chan? I wanna give him a good luck spell." She said giving a smile that only a child could retain but Kagura could clearly see through the façade. Ayumi was worried, scared even, for that stupid blond. Well it didn't seem like much of a bad idea and she was _very_ curious about the reason why he kept Ayumi around and sold the other kids. And she was worried about Tastu. They didn't know about his temperament. Sure he was calm when they arrested him but if they were interrogating him right now like Heisuke then one wrong word would set him off; the possibility of him killing them wasn't farfetched actually that's probably what would happen.

"Sure."

It took about 10 minutes more or less to make it the house—well to the entrance—of 'people who abuse our tax dollars' as Gin-chan liked to call them. It came with accessorized with a bored looking guard. "State your purpose in _co—ming_." The man said as he tried to stifle a yawn.

"We're _important _witnesses to the kidnapping case."

"I don't see what that has to _do~_ with you two coming here." He yawned again. Was it that boring to guard a door?

Probably…

"As witnesses to the kidnapping case, mayo—er…your second-in-command and gorr-commander have called me and my partner here to see if he speaks the truth about his wrongdoings." She stated with a matter-of-fact tone, watching that marathon of 'Crime and Chaos' (6) really paid off. She hoped Ayumi would stay quiet and glanced down at the girl as a reassurance, she kept her mouth shut.

The guard eyed her suspiciously before letting them in with an uncaring 'whatever'.

She had to give herself an imaginary pat on the back as they walked through a hallway. If she had told the real reason why they had come, he'd probably turn them away…or maybe not after seeing that half-assed attitude. All these rooms looked the same. How the heck do people get around here? "Was does wit-nice mean?"

"It means—" She was interrupted by a loud voice.

"Um, excuse me but I'm STILL HUNGRY! I need about 18 more bowls before you even think that I'm full." yelled a familiar voice.

"Ta-kun!" Ayumi ran towards the owner of the voice with Kagura following behind to the courtyard. The noirette hugged the red-haired male as soon as she could get within arm's reach of him. Kagura took in his appearance, relived that he was still Tatsu at the moment. A futon and maybe 2 empty bowls rested beside the tree. So this is where he slept for the time being… He smiled softly and rested his chin on her hair but he didn't return the hug. The little girl released him and smiled. He couldn't have returned the hug. His arms were chained with Titan Handcuffs with a chain link connecting it to the tree behind him, wrapping around it about two times.

"Ta-kun, Ta-kun, have you seen Hei-chan? I wanna give him a good luck spell, like the one Akira taught me." She said, oblivious to his confinements or she was just ignoring them.

"How sweet of you, Ayumi, I saw him go there this morning but he should still be in there, I think." He pointed to a detached room, if you were to exclude the single corridor connecting it to the household. He motioned for Kagura to come closer, which she did.

"Ayumi is optimistic and an airhead. When she hears the truth it'll hurt but even then she needs to hear it. That's what I believe and I assume you, too."

"…"

Taking her silence as an agreement, he continued. "Nevertheless, if Ayumi starts to cry then can you bring her to me?" He kept his voice barely above a whisper, glancing at the mentioned girl to see if she heard. The 9 year old showed no signs of it in fact, she was just swinging the branches of the tree Tatsu was connected to.

"…Sure." Kagura wasn't even sure if they would be able to enter the room, now that she thought about it.

"Hey what are you guys doing here, talking to him no less?" said a voice from behind.

Kagura whipped around to see an officer, holding/balance more than 10 plates of various foods on a large platter in his hands, glaring at her.

"As witnesses, we're here to see if our little kidnapper the truth." She lied. Well that wasn't really a lie; they were here for the truth. She glanced at Ayumi, who was still swinging the branch, well at least one of them was.

"They called you down, hmm? Sounds a different than what they usually do." The man set the platter down beside Tatsu, who quickly gobbled down the first bowl. "Finally, thanks!" Tatsu beamed.

"Well why in the world would I come here, if not for that reason?" Kagura let out an irritated sigh.

"You have a point there…" The man walked away to what she guessed was the kitchen.

The food smelled delicious maybe if she asked Tatsu, she would get some, mhmm?

"Hey give me some of that." Okay maybe that didn't sound like she was asking, but the fact that she even acknowledged it was his food and didn't just eat it, meant something.

Tatsu stared incredulously. Asking a Yato, a question like that is like saying 'Hey mind if I sold all your valuable possessions?' It's just not something you do and 99% of the time you'll get a reply of 'What the hell is wrong with you?' But, there's always that person who's part of the 1% who would reply 'Sure, why not' and luckily Tatsu was one of those people.

"3…_Only_ 3." He said. She grabbed the bowel of chicken fried rice with.

"Nee-chan, can we go now?"

She'd have to finish when she came back. "You better not eat my share or else." She threatened as she walked with Ayumi to the interrogation room's door. "Shhh…" Kagura open the door slightly, leaving only enough space for a single cerulean orb to peer through. Gorilla and Mayo-freak were present and were currently looking through a window. Mayo turned to look at them.

"You two, come out now."

She pushed the door wide open, stepping in followed by her companion. Mayo's eyes showed a sign of surprise before going back to their usual cold gaze. "Whoo~ nice job, you're not as useless as you look." Kagura clapped. Ayumi clapped along, confused but smiling like usual. A tick mark appeared on his head, trying to force his face to stay the same though you could see the obvious irritation. "What are you doing here?"

"We are here to observe the interrogation of Kamijie—er, I mean Heisuke."

"Oi, she practically just recited that line from last week's episode of 'Crime and Chaos'." Gorilla said though he was ignored.

"No, so just go home."

"Do you know what we went through to get here?" Not much…They don't need to know that.

"No and I don't care."

Kagura strutted towards Kondo, using her back hand to cover her mouth and peered up at him. "Let us stay and I'll tell you a secret about anego." She smirked.

Gorri was quiet for a moment before saying. "Nee, Toshi…It can't be that bad if they stay~ I mean they got inside without a problem." Hijikata just made a small 'tch' but made no refute on the subject. He went to join the noirette who was glued on the window. "Nee-chan, why is everyone calling Hei-chan a kidnapper? Kidnappers are bad people and Hei-chan's not a bad person." Ayumi finally spoke up. It sounded more like a statement to herself rather than a question to her.

Kagura came to join the duo. Through the window she could see the interrogator rocking back on the two back legs of the metal chair and the already-known-to-be-guilty suspect who sat solemnly, Heisuke. The interrogator, who she now remembered was called Sano, had an eggplant peek-a-boo-bang style haircut with small goatee to match. Cool scarlet eyes sat behind thin-rimmed—a.k.a. 'lawyer'—glasses, a confident smirk playing on his lips. "Okay, so what's the story on her?" He flipped opened the folder on the table, tapping his pen on the picture in the middle.

Heisuke remained silent though he did smile softly at the picture. He looked almost no different than he did almost a week ago, it was just that his wounds have been bandaged and his armor/weapons removed.

"Well, I guess I can take a few guesses…" Sano stood up from his chair, leaning in forward on the table. "She's a pretty cute girl. You could mold her, make her do anything you wanted and when she grew up, you would take her as yours. Am I right?"

Heisuke's eyes burned with rage. "I nev—"

"Oh, I'm sorry. You like 'em young, don't you? You already made her yours."

Heisuke flew up from his chair. "You are sick! I wouldn't never, never even dream of doing such a vile thing to Ayumi!"

"Then why keep her? What use do you have of her?" Sano picked up the fallen chair behind Heisuke before pushing him down harshly on it.

A pregnant silence suffocated the room.

"She's my sister." He mumbled, even on the microphone it was almost inaudible.

The people on the other side of the window looked at Ayumi, skeptically. Those two looked nothing alike. "What is Hei-chan talking about? We're not related at all though he acts like a older brother."

"She's my reincarnated sister." Heisuke went on. "My little sister died because of a stupid mistake I made, she was the only one who cared about me and yet I lost her so easily...Eight years ago, the same day she died, was the same day Ayumi was born. She acts just the way Sis used to. I 'm gonna protect her this time."

"Protect her, you say. How can you say that, when you made her stay at that rat-hole and took away her friends, if she had any, whenever she made any? Didn't you think that she would find it was strange that everyone else was sent away? But she remained. Sounds like you're a bit possessive to me." Sano asked.

"I had no choice…"

"Care to elaborate on that." Sano tapped his pen against the table in a slow, steady beat.

"She is a missing child; I couldn't just put her anywhere but… I made sure she never knew what really happened to them."

"And how exactly did you do that?"

"On the days, they were meant to be sold off; I crushed some Rohyphenol and sprinkled it in the food. I instructed her to never eat it or else fairies would punish her. Then, I would take her to a private room as I auctioned them off."

"Hmm, okay then. Why do you sell children?"

"Why else? To make money, of course. Kids sell for a very high price, they have so many uses." Heisuke bore a arrogant grin on his lips

Shock was the main emotion playing on Ayumi's face. "Why is Hei-chan acting so weird?"

"That's true. Now, next question. We found blood on your clothing matching that of a body found at the crime-scene. Did you kill him, who was he and why?"

"That body you say was my father, the one who lured the children in, the one who started this whole business of ours. He was going senile. I took care of it though."

"By killing him, yes?"

"That's right."

"You seem to be more responsive to my questions, any particular reason?"

"You have Ayumi with you and I'm never going to get to see her again, so there's no point in lying."

Ayumi's eyes were watery. "I want this to stop…I don't like it…Hei-chan never lied to me but why is he saying such odd things now? Which one's the truth?" She wiped away some tears that managed to make their way out. Kagura felt bad for bringing her along without really thinking of the major consequences.

"I think she's heard enough." Hijikata said. Ayumi slumped on the floor, her tear were flowing out non-stop, even when she vigorously tried to wipe them away.

"_If Ayumi ever starts to cry, can you bring her to me?" _Tatsu's words echoed in her head. She didn't know what he was planning on doing but she didn't want the girl to shed her tears anymore because of that jerk. "Let's go Ayumi-chan" Kagura held her hand out. The noirette made a faint nod, took her hand and stood up, her gaze stuck on the floor. The older female quietly led her back to the courtyard.

Tatsu's calm azure eyes swirled with rage, once he caught sight of them. His fiery hair looking more feral as a maniacal grin replaced his gentle smile. His arms strained apart, causing his handcuffs to snap.

Oh this was bad, he was turning into Tatsuya. Ah man how could she have forgotten about that little factor?

Kagura looked down at Ayumi who stared and let out a shocked gasp at the boy's transformation. He stood up.

"Ayumi~ who made you cry? Tell me and I'll take care of it."

"Ta-kun…why are you like this?" The nine year old clutched the side of Kagura's cheongsam, hiding her body partially behind the female redhead. Tatsuya's malicious aura wavered. His eyes dilated, trying to regain their composure. He grated his nails against the bark of the tree 'till blood streamed down his arm. He let out a low growl before he calmed down. Tatsu walked to the two, kneeling down on one knee to put himself on eyelevel with Ayumi. Kagura released herself from the girl's grasp and walked the tree to where her share of food sat—yeah, she didn't forget about that. She picked up her half-finished bowel of fried rice, slumped against the tree and watched the scene before her.

"Ayumi, I'm sorry."

"Why are you saying sorry?" She looked at him confusedly; the fright in her eyes ebbed away.

"I'm sorry you had to see me like that. But I'm better now." He smiled, which seemed to convince her.

"Hey! How'd you get out of your shackles?" Some officer came charging out.

"Don't get your panties in a bunch, he ain't going anywhere. Jus Put da cufvs ack un la~er. (Just put the cuffs back on later)" Kagura deadpanned, occupying herself with a plate of fried prawns. The man sat down on the edge of the deck, waiting to see if her words played true.

"Have you lied to me, too?" Ayumi started shaking.

"I've never lied to you."

"Really?"

"Yup, now will you stop crying for me?"

"B-b-but, Hei-chan…He…he…he" She plopped down; her knees cradled her forehead in an attempt to hide her tears.

Tatsu cleared his throat.

"_You don't have to cry anymore._

_Just stay the way you are. _

_Look up at the sky._

_Ah, my sweetest love…"_

His eyes became half-lidded. Ayumi peaked out of the space between of her sleeves, her tears turned into silent hiccups. Kagura listen intently, though that didn't stop her from eating her last plate.

"_Blue. That teardrop that rolls down a blue glistening cheek…_

_Rise. Did you know about the light that leads to tomorrow? _

_Truth…maybe you still don't know yourself that well. _

_I'm sure that tear will become a rainbow to guide you._

_If you get chilled on your long journey. _

_Ah, I'll warm you up with a song_…_" _(7)

He came to a soft stop. Kagura remembered this song, it was the same song, he sang when watering that plant from back then. "You like it when I sing this song, right?" Tatsu ruffled Ayumi's unkempt hair. She made a soft nod, a small smile at her lips.

"Hey, how'd you escape?" Mayo and Gorri came walking out. "It was an accident, please forgive me." Tatsu apologized but the look on his face said he _really_ didn't care. Kondo strolled over to Kagura. "Hey, now tell me about the secret about Otae-chan." Kagura feigned confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"You said if I let you stay then you would tell me a secret about her."

"Ah that! No, no you misheard me I said 'a secret about _an eggo_.' You know the waffle, Eggo Waffles**™. **You could use those things for, like, so many things. It tasted good with some dangos I had it with, uh-huh." The gorilla-like human let out a dejected sigh. Kagura inwardly smirked. He was so gullible but how can she blame him? Her lying skills were on expect level, ohohohoho~

"Shut up, Kamiyama! I don't want to hear it." Hijikata yelled. He was on the phone with a rather, okay he was just plain old, loud male. It sounded like that weird guy with the spiral glasses who clung to the sadist from wherever-that-place-was.

"_But, Okita-taiachou looks so harmless—gahh!"_ There was a crunching noise. _"Who the hell said you were allowed to take pictures of me."_ It was a different voice this time.

It was the sadist's. Kagura felt a smile tug at her lips.

"Looks like your boyfriend's awake now." Hijikata clicked the phone off.

"He's not my boyfriend…" Kagura growled. "Oh really? 'Cos the way you where holding him when we arrived at the crime scene says differently." Satisfied with his come-back, he took out his mayo-shaped lighter. Kagura quickly grabbed it out of his hand and launched it into the air. He watched in shock as it was becoming nothing but, a speck in the sky. "No smoking around children." She grinned.

A smile that faintly reminded Hijikata of Okita's own one. Hijikata let out an irritated 'tch'. "Come on let's go." He said. Kagura furrowed her eyebrows. "Go where?" she said.

"To that idiot, of course."

Kagura felt her cheeks heat up but only a little.

"Can I go, too?" Ayumi piped up.

She remained quiet as she, Ayumi, Hijikata, and Kondo entered the police car.

* * *

The waiting room sucks.

Because, frankly waiting sucks, nobody likes doing it…

Kagura let out an angry puff of air. She glanced at Ayumi who was coloring a coloring-book the nurses had provided her with. That girl sure can keep herself entertained.

Geez how long were those idiots going to take?

Not that she was in a hurry to see him.

Why did she even agree to even here….Anyway. She stalked over to the magazine rack, randomly picking one out and went back over to her chair. She looked at the cover with a you've-got-to-be-kidding-me expression.

**More Than just friends? (Girl's edition)**

**Take this quiz to find out!**

This must be a sign. Or Kami-sama must be messing with her…Well; she has nothing better to do at the moment, so why not take it? "Ayumi, give a pen." The girl complied and tossed one to her.

Okay, now to begin.

**Write the person of interest's name here.**

Sadist.

She crossed out the name right after she wrote it. Okay nobody needed to know who it was. Oh wait since she wrote on it, now she has to take the magazine with her.

**1. Does he have a nickname for you?**

**[x] Yes [ ] no**

China, though she has no idea why he insisted on calling her that. 'China' was a fragile thing, be it plates or a doll, and she sure as Gin-chan was a sugar addict wasn't fragile.

**2. Tease you a lot?**

**[x] Yes [ ] no**

When doesn't he?

**3. Do his friends tell you, he likes you?**

**[x] Yes [ ] no **

Yeah but really who would really trust those idiots, he calls friends.

**4. Makes his way to be with you?**

**[x] Yes [ ] no**

She couldn't remember a time he ignored.

**5. Is he polite to you?**

**[ ] yes [x] no **

It would probably kill him, if he was.

**6. Shows off to you?**

**[x] Yes [ ] no **

She wished he wouldn't.

**7. He listens to what you have to say?**

**[x] Yes [ ] no **

Strangely enough, he did but then he would sully his possible nice guy image with a snarky comment afterwards.

**8. Touchy-feely?**

**[x] Yes [ ] no **

If it meant what she thought it meant then yeah.

**9. Is he nervous around you?**

**[ ] yes [x] no **

She would take advantage of him if he was. Images of him shaking in his pants floated into her thoughts.

**10. Buys you gifts?**

**[ ] yes [X] no **

The closest thing she ever got to being called a gift from him was that AWEFUL cake.

**11. Personal space an issue?**

**[ ] yes [x] no **

She didn't think much about it.

**12. Ever try to make you jealous?**

**[x] Yes [ ] no **

Not with other women but with the things he owned.

**Now how about you.**

**1. Do you feel different around him?**

**[x] Yes [ ] no **

She felt like there were no walls between them. But there was a thin fence separating them.

**2. You got a nickname for him?**

**[x] Yes [ ] no **

Sadist, suits him perfectly.

**3. Spend a lot of time together?**

**[x] Yes [ ] no **

Tuesdays and Fridays were the days they went out to decide who the top dog was. Obviously her by the way.

**4. Avoid eye with him?**

**[ ] yes [x] no **

If she did that, he probably do something weird to her.

**5. Try to make him jealous?**

**[ ] yes [x] no **

She didn't need to try. He was clearly envious of her awesomeness~

**6. Going out of your way to find him?**

**[x] Yes [ ] no **

That guy deserved a beat-down whenever she sees him.

**7. Think about him…a lot?**

**[x] Yes [ ] no **

She always has to be on guard for that bastard's antics.

**8. Get butterflies in your stomach when he's around?**

**[x] Yes [ ] no **

He did sometimes make her feel odd when he was to close….

**9. You blush a lot around him?**

**[ ] yes [x] no **

That's for pansies.

**10. Do you choose your clothing, according to weather he will like it or not?**

**[ ] yes [x] no **

If she did that then she'd be wearing a collar around her neck.

**11. Staring problem with him?**

**[ ] yes [x] no **

Staring is creepy.

**12. Do you think you like him?**

**[ ] yes [x] no **

Truly she didn't know but….

**Okay now count up the times the answers have been 'yes' and turn the page to see the results. **

She followed the instructions soundlessly, accidentally ripping out the whole page. She flipped it over anxiously looking for her number.

**Yes! You two are meant to be together.**

Kagura's face instantly heated up before continuing.

**There may be a couple of bumps on the road for you two but no one's life is all sunshine and rainbows. So why don't you to go on and be happy together. While I just stay at home making these stupid quizzes. What have I done to be so alone? I give people love advice and yet I don't have that special someone. Jerry's a complete loser and yet he has someone, what's up with that? Yeah so…Go on be happy, you two! Just go on! **

Okay that kinda pissed her off.

"Yes…You two are mee-t to be to-get-her. Nee-chan what do they mean 'mean-t to be together?" Ayumi read over her shoulder. When did she get there?

"It means to…that two people who really like each other should go on dates and stuff. Yeah, something like that."

"Like you and Okita-nii-chan?" Ayumi questioned. Kagura nearly choked on dry air. Where did she get such an r-r-ridicules idea?

"What are you talking about Ayumi? Me and him don't…like each other."

"Okita-nii-chan likes to pick on you and mommy told me that if a boy picks on you that means they like you a lots." Kagura visibly relaxed "He's not a little kid so it's not the same thing." She looked his hospital room door. It was as if Ayumi was the truth she didn't want to see. "It doesn't if he's not a little kid and is a grown up, love is the same at any age, right?" Ayumi responded.

"_I noticed you've been coming here since he was admitted, you're his girlfriend, right? You guys look so cute together~ though it's terrible what happened to him…"_

"_Looks like your boyfriend's awake now."_

The idea of being called something so intimate to him, didn't disgust her as much as she thought it would.

"Nee-chan." Kagura glanced at the noirette.

"I'm getting really sleepy. Tell nii-chan I said hi. Can I come tomorrow with you?" Ayumi stifled a yawn, rubbing away a small tear from her left eye. Just then Hijikata and Kondo stepped out of the room.

"Hey you guys, take her back to Gin-chan." Kagura stood up with the yawning girl, gently pushing her towards them.

"Whatever." And with that the two officers ushered the little girl out the hospital.

Kagura inwardly gulped before tentatively pushing on his room door.

"I must be dreaming, no more like having a nightmare, if you're here to visit me, China." She heard him sneer.

"Teme!" Kagura curled her fingers into a fist and grabbed his collar. His face remained indifferent.

"I'm already in the hospital and you're try to injure me still, that's pretty low China?" Burgundy eyes bore into hers. She, though she would never admit aloud, missed seeing them. She let him go and flopped down on the chair located next to his bed.

"You started this." She made a small pout.

"Blame it on the hospital patient."

A short wind of silence went by before Kagura said, "You look like shit."

"At least that's 'cos I'm in the hospital. You were just born that way."

Why the heck did she even want to see this prick, again? Kagura gritted her teeth. Okita shifted his head to face her. "Anyway…You weren't hurt back then were you? You're okay right?" Behind his wine eyes was something resembling concern. Her face heated a little. She prayed he couldn't see it.

"What! O-o-of course, I'm alright. I'm not weak like you humans." She declared, hoping he wouldn't note her little stutter. He seemed to brush it off. "You're just a gluttonous monster, China. Speaking of monsters, what's up with that Ta-whatever-the-rest-of-his-name-was who acted so obsessed with you then after acted like a relatively normal person."

"Ah Tatsu? He's more or less of a yandere (8) in short" She explained.

"Please elaborate."

"Well Tatsu was eight when he became an orphan 'cos both his parents died by then. Though, his mother did leave behind some flowers for him. Bleeding…farts...No it was hearts. It was 'Bleeding Hearts', it was one of the few plants that could survive on my planet. Me and 'im took care of it every day but he did get beaten up by some other kids for his soft nature. And he just put up with it, day after day, even when I offered to help him kick their asses. Then those idiots found out he had something important like that and tried to ruin it. I tried to protect it from them and that's when he saw me laying on the floor, bleeding a bit, nothing serious though. And he just snapped right then and there and probably would have killed them if I hadn't stopped him. After finally realizing what he had done, he started crying. And I told him to just associate his bad self kinda like a different person—as Tatsuya."

"That sounds more like a split personality rather than yandere."

"It's the reader's choice on that."

"Wow the authoress let her laziness slip out." Okita deadpanned.

"Well it's not easy coming up with exact reasons on why people act a certain way, you know." Kagura nodded her head, arms crossed as if she went through the whole ordeal personally.

"Can't argue on that one." He smirked. It left a tickling feeling in her stomach which made Kagura let out a small, short giggle, which made the sadist look at her incredulously.

A gentle knocks rapped on the door, breaking the awkward silence.

"Excuse me miss. Visiting hours end right about now." A nurse, different from the one from earlier this afternoon, creaked open the door, slowly. Kagura got up and left in a rush. It was when she arrived back at the Yorozuya she remembered something.

"Why do I feel like I forgot something? Ah crap the magazine…Maybe I just dropped it on the ground while coming back here. Yeah that's what happen…I hope."

* * *

Are you guys proud of me or what almost 9k words xD I wanted to write 5k but in my head I kept saying 'maybe I could make it to 8k…Who am I kidding.' My lil bro, the one I based Ayumi on thought I was pathetic. He kept saying 'why do you like challenging yourself for things like this and yet you're sooooooooooooooo lazy for everything else.'

Anyway, I tried to make this more Gintama like but I think I've failed T~T….Though I hope in some remote way that you enjoyed.

1*Got this from Gintama ep 100 lol

2*Reference to Ulquiorra's heart speech (Bleach)

3* Haruka from Uta no Prince-sama maji 1000%, Uni from KHR!, Onihime from Sket Dance, Izumo from Ao No Exorist and Sakura from Naruto. Funny how I put people I don't like except for Onihime, Uni and kinda Haruka.

4* One Piece reference to when…Ace died…Madao has the same VA as that ($#%*) admiral.

5*Noirette—person with black hair

6*Parody of Law and Order

7* Tatsuya was singing this song: youtube(dot)com/watch?v=EOHMrX3PWCE

If you're curious of what Tatsu/Tatsuya sounds like then listen to this: youtube(dot)com/watch?v=QubMDUIKDKg

That's what I imagine he sounds, don't you agree? Especially at 2:00-2:19 Lol, I think too much about my OC's XD

8***Yandere**—Japanese term for a personality that is initially extremely loving and gentle, then at one point becomes deranged or psychotic, often brutally so. You can consider it the opposite of tsundere.

9*Bleeding heart— flower that means an undying love

I could make a one-shot between Tatsu and Kagura's past. Should I, Should I, SHOULD I! Sounds like I want to but I really don't kinda care.

Until next time~ Bye bi 83

.


	8. Coming Into Terms

**Why Hallo thar~ 8D **

**I'm so sorry for the late chappie but I don't know where I'm going with this story .n. also do you know how many times this file went corrupt...nine f—cking times! *rages* but anyway lots of love for the people who reviewed/alerted/favorite-d this story~**

**Btw, Konani and Itzal are just 'voices' in Okita's head. Oh wait that makes him sound crazy. Um, they're, like, his mind personified, I guess I should say. Lol, do you guys get what I mean? Plus, Konani is the left side of his brain (logic) and Itzal is the right side (impulse)… Do you guys find my OCs annoying? Cuz usually I don't like reading stories with OCs, but here I am doing just that. How hypocritical =. = **

**Gintama is thankfully not mine, it would be a major fail should this ever happen.**

**This chapter, like all the others, was not beta-d but I did try to fix my mistakes. So, please excuse any grammatical/spelling errors that are left.**

* * *

**Coming into terms… No it's not like what you're thinking!**

China sure is acting weird.

Okita looked at the chair; the auburn-haired girl was just recently sitting on.

Hn, Looks like she forgot something. He leaned over, wincing a bit, to pick up the piece of paper.

"More than just friends. Take this quiz to find out…" He read aloud.

Why does China have such a thing?

He continued reading.

**Write****the person of interest's name here. **The name was crossed out but he could still make-out the letters. 'Sadist' it said. He looked over her answers, slowly. '_1. Nickname for her?_' China. He called her that because ironically, she almost resembled the look of a 'china doll.' You know, if you just glued her mouth shut and ignored her monstrous strength. Okita continued on reading. Some of the answers were just absurd. He did not _'make his way to be with her'_. It's just that whenever she was in his sight, something bad always happened. It was like trouble was attracted to her and as a police officer, he has to stop trouble in its tracks.

Once he finished reading, he smirked. China has a crush on and wants to go out with the awesome him? Then, she'd have to be an 'M' if she wanted that, scratch that, she could stay the just the way she is. Breaking her will seemed so much more deliciously fun~ Oh wait that would mean…If they went out then at some point they'd have to kiss.

_Well, it's not like we never thought of kissing her~. _Itzal said in a sing-song voice.

Her lips looked _really _kissable whenever he got too close to China.

_Furthermore, the foul words that spew out of her mouth whenever talking to us, makes us curious if they taste that way, too. _Itzal licked his lower lip. A questionable glint in his eyes that were just a few shades lighter than his master, making them look almost crimson.

They'd probably taste like that nasty sukonbu she's always—that's when some realization slapped back into his head.

What the hell was he doing evening thinking about this? He…didn't even…like…China that way.

Right?

Must be the painkillers.

_Yup, __**that's**__ it_. Itzal sneered.

Okay, he needed to go back to sleep. Okita threw the magazine page back on the chair and shifted his body slightly to get comfortable.

* * *

_Burgundy eyes flickered open slowly._

_It was too dark to see anything—Okita shivered—and it was cold._

_Where was he?_

_He could tell he was lying on cold hard cement floor. _

_Sougo attempted to get up but found he was paralyzed._

_What the—where the hell was he!_

"_Stop it." A voice called out. It was China's voice. Okita tried to pinpoint where it had come from, which proved to be useless. But that didn't matter. She needed help; he could hear it in her tone. Kami-sama, where the hell were they?_

'_China, where are you?' he wanted to say but his voice was gone too._

_A flash of light blinded his vision before diminishing into a soft glow. He was soon able to make out two figures…they were people; one male while the other was female, both of them sporting red hair._

"_How can I when we're having so much fun, Kagura-chan?" Okita knew that voice. It was that annoying red head from the warehouse. _

_What was his name again?_

_Tatsuya…That psycho what was he doing here?_

"_Sick…bastard." It was another person who spoke. _

_It was Kagura!_

_The boy had pinned the girl to the wall with a single hand on her neck while the latter struggled violently…fruitlessly. No matter how hard she kicked the boy, he wouldn't budge. What had happened to that strength, she possessed whenever fighting him? _

_She let out one final cough before dropping her hands from her neck. Tatsuya released her and she fell to the floor like a limp doll. Okita mentally flinched at the loud 'thud' that came along with it. _

"_Will you come back to me?"_

"_I never—" Before she could finish that sentence all her words had been knocked out when Tatsuya kicked her gut. _

"_Let me ask one more time, will—"_

"_Never! I'll never go back with you! I never was yours...to begin with."_

_That ever-lasting smile disappeared from his features as if it had never been there in the first place. _

"_Kagura-chan that hurt my feelings, please take it back."_

_China only glared up at him defiantly in response. "Wrong move" Not a second later, China was slammed into the concrete wall. Every time she tried to regain a breath of air, it was violently shoved out just as soon. This went on repeatedly until Okita heard three distinct cracks. _

_The bastard had just broken her ribs._

_Tatsuya stopped, adorning an apologetic look. "Sorry...Here let me kiss it better."_

_The smiling redhead straddled her hips and roughly claimed her lips, only to pull back almost immediately when the girl bit him. "Look at what you did." He licked the blood from the corner of his lip. "Now say 'sorry'." The smile never left the boy's features which made Sougo's stomach churn. He really wanted punch that smile off that boy's face!_

_Tatsuya's request was met with silence and Okita couldn't help, but to feel a bit of pride that she wasn't going to submit into his will. "Please forgive me Kagura-chan but naughty children need to be punished…Isn't that right?" He grabbed a fistful of her amaranth hair, jerking her head forward and then slamming it to the ground. This went on until her light-hair colored darkened into a more crimson-y tint. "I think red makes such a nice color one you." Tatsuya said much too innocently for the given situation._

_China head lolled to the side—the side where Okita was situated._

_Cerulean orb stared straight at him._

"_Help…me." Her voice barely brushed past Sougo's ears._

_But he couldn't._

_All he could do was watch._

_No matter how hard he commanded this stupid body of his to move…He was just an unwilling spectator to this gruesome scene._

"_Kagura-chan, you stole my heart..." He smiled sweetly. Kagura screamed when his hand plunged in to her chest._

_Okita's mouth moved but no sound came out._

_It was like someone had put the mute on his voice and raised the volume on the screams the teen girl was emitting._

"_May I have it back?" He finished._

_Kagura's head turned to face Okita's side of the room once more._

_This couldn't be happening._

_He wanted tear his eyes away from those fearful yet hallow orbs that stared back…but he couldn't_

"_Why…why didn't you help me?" Her voice echoed though her lips hadn't moved._

* * *

Sougo's eyes snapped open.

Okay ? It's been so long since he had on. In the last nightmare he had was one where Aneue eloped with Hijikata and Kondo died, leaving Okita all by himself… As you can tell, he was pretty young the last time he had a nightmare.

Getting off those gloomy thoughts, Okita took the time to register that it was early morning, possibly around seven or early eight in the morning if he had to guess. The soft whispers and muffled clicking going behind his door backed up his theory. He let out a soft groan. How long was he going to have to stay in this place? It's so boring, even if he did spend a majority of the time sleeping.

He glanced at the TV across the room. He could watch that for the time being.

Okita did a quick scan of the room for anything that looked anything like a remote…it wasn't here or at least not in his line a vision. Well guess who's not watching TV now, because there was no way in hell he was getting up to turn it on.

Laziness at its finest.

Okita sat up slowly and turned so that his feet hung of the bed, wincing a bit. He put one foot—the un-bandaged one—on the ground. Using his expert balancing skills, Okita hopped off the bed, making sure only one foot was on the ground. Thankfully most of the pain he felt was in his right arm though for the most part his wounds were healed, but he still felt very sore. He picked up a new set of clothes from the breakfast tray/counter thing. Hijikata, that bastard, actually did something right. Maybe in return Okita won't make his death as painful as originally planned, Sougo mused as he started unbuttoning his shirt.

There was no use staying here.

Yes he was willing to go outside instead of scavenging for some stupid remote control. What he did was of no concern to you anyway. Once he slipped off the shirt, he spotted a magazine page on the couch. He picked it, examining it.

Who was this for and why was it in his room?

Oh right it was for—

"Sadistic-bastard, are you awake?" called an annoyingly familiar voice, disrupting Okita's thought process. The door slammed open revealing the redhead who apparently found it to be her job to annoy the shit out of him.

"What do want, China?" He stared at the girl.

"Why do you keep calling me China, sadist?"

"**C**apricious **H**othead who's **I**ncredibly **N**ot **A**wesome like me, aka China." The brunette deadpanned. That's why he called her that instead of her real name—just kidding, he made that acronym up on spot since he was amazing like. He called her China for reasons no one needed to know about. The redhead frowned. "You really know how to piss off people don't y–—asdgfkgdiji!" She lunged forward. "Don't read that!" China desperately tried to grab at the forgotten magazine page out of his hand.

Unfortunately for her, he had already read it~ once again China has lost the game. It didn't matter if he couldn't remember what it was at the moment. It'd come to him sooner or later. She made another attempt to grab it but Okita tripped her, pinning her to the bed with his good arm.

"That's pretty low of you to attack a _helpless_ hospital patient." He smirked.

"You and I both know that's a load of BS. Now get off me!" She scowled, locking her eyes with him.

"I'd rather not."

"Get off of me…"Okita watched as her gaze slowly traveled down to his chest.

The room went silent.

Awkwardly silent.

Why'd she stop struggling and was she…blushing?

Ah shit, here goes one of those godforsaken times Okita wanted to kiss her. If Kami-sama could hear his thoughts right now, then please kill him on the spot…or better yet maybe he should kiss her and she'd kill him herself. He noticed their how painfully close their faces were and the distance between them was soon going to be nonexistent.

Hold up.

He stopped, their lips were just a couple millimeters, and put some distance between their faces.

What was he doing?

Was he really about to kiss _China_!

It must be the medication.

Yeah.

Whatever meds they served him sure had some crazy side-effects, like hallucinations and suicidal thoughts. He better leave here soon if it was going to be like this. Just as Okita was finished contemplating his awesome escape, his room door burst open and in came an overzealous, red-haired nurse, which he found to be quite annoying. It was too early for anyone to be acting like this. Plus, this was a _hospital_; any sense of joy is drained from you when you're here.

She must be some kind of sadist.

How ironic, a sadist being taken care of by another sadist.

Wait, would that be irony?

Doesn't matter.

"Good morning~ Okita-san. I'm here to check on you, but as far as I can see you're doing just fine~" The nurse joked. The temperature in the room dropped about three degrees. If Okita had his katana right now, that'd be the last joke she'd ever say.

He felt China's non-too-gentle hand on his chest push him aside as she promptly made a beeline out the door. That was when he noticed his semi-undressed state. That must have been why China was blushing. 'Cause you know, he was hot and all. So it'd be a normal reaction.

Sougo sat down on the edge of his bed.

But thing is, China wasn't normal. So why was she—"Sorry for ruining the 'moment', but I need to administer you your medication." The nurse interrupted, taking out a syringe filled with a strange light green liquid. Before Okita could make any repudiation, the lime liquid was leaving the needle and entering his bloodstream.

What the hell!

"I apologize for the abruptness but, some of our patients have a needle phobia and I didn't want to take the time to find out if you did." She said, that irritating smile never leaving her face. His intuition was right, this lady _was_ a sadist. "If you would like to know which I bet you would, we've injected you with our new serum. That's why you healed much quicker than normal. The most common side-effect you may experience is illusions…maybe even drowsiness, nausea, soreness at the sight of injection, and headaches. Other side-effects you may undergo and should report are memory loss and loss of limbs." She continued. Oh yes, tell him the side-effects _after _you give him the shot.

Wait.

Did she just say this medicine may cause his limbs to go missing, as in fall off or disappear like Hijikata's pride? Okita made a mental note to put the hospital up for investigation.

"Your girlfriend must be so hap—"

"I don't have a girlfriend." He interrupted.

"Oh you~ don't be getting all shy now, if she wasn't that 'special' person, then why would she wait at you're bedside while you were in a coma? Wait; don't tell me that girl's your sister, cousin, daughter, though I may be way off on that last one, hahaha."

Was this nurse on something?

"Can you please stop saying such disgusting things? That girl is **not** my girlfriend, sister, nor daughter." Sougo deadpanned.

"I see she's not your girlfriend _yet_. Well, don't worry, call it a woman's intuition but, I'm sure she's got something for you." She winked. Okita stared at the woman. He had never thought anyone besides China and Hijikata could piss him off just by opening their mouths. Guess he could put this nurse onto the list.

This can be considered the day, Okita gained the bias that all redheads were annoying and out to piss him off in some way or form.

"Now Okita-san, you have made an incredible recovery and should be able to leave soon, but is there something I can do to make you more comfortable?"

"May you please go crawl outside and die."

"Such a jokester you~" She left room afterwards.

So he was permitted to leave in about a couple days, huh?

How about today instead.

Okita heaved himself off the bed and finished dressing. Once that task was done, he left his room. As he walked—it was actually more like a cross between limping and hobbling—down the eerie, white, pristine hallways, Okita was slowly becoming aware of how damage his body had sustained. He leaned on the junction that connected the corridor to the small visitor's lounge.

Going back to his room didn't sound so bad right now.

Nah it still did.

"What the hell are you doing outside your bedroom, shit-for-brains?" Okita spotted a certain foul-mouthed teen sitting in one of the visitor's chairs.

Hm, he thought she had left.

"What do you want from me, shit-eater?"

He watched her stand up and walk towards him.

"None of your business."

He expected a jab to his stomach—knowing how much of a brute the girl was—but instead China's shoulder immediately became a crutch as she guided him towards the entrance/exit of the hospital. Okita may be stubborn, but he wasn't stupid. So, he wasn't going to comment on why the girl, who could snap his bones like it was nothing, was uncharacteristically helping him. Well that was at least until his body was—Okita winced when he applied too much pressure on his left foot.

"If that hurt then why leave your room?" China said.

"I don't like hospitals." was his only reply as they walked on.

Thank kami-sama that his room was on the first floor but, why was it taking so long to get to the door?

It made him notice things that he shouldn't give a shit about things, like how China's hair wasn't up in buns and the tips of her amaranthhair curled both inwardly and outwardly in a _definitely _un-cute fashion or how soft it felt brushing against his chin. Another stupid thing he noticed was how petite she was compared to him and that she smelled of strawberries—courtesy of Danna most likely. These were such idiotic things he taking note of! Were they on some moving sidewalk that's going backwards? Please tell him that they were, so he could get off! Okita glanced down at the floor—obviously no, but one can never be too careful now.

* * *

Finally, they made it out of the stupid building.

"Where were you planning on going anyway?" China said.

He didn't know truly, he just wanted to get out of that wretched place.

He wasn't in the mood to go back the Shinsengumi just yet. It had nothing to do with the fact that he looked pretty damn pathetic right now—because he wasn't—and that he didn't want China to leave just yet—because that wasn't it either.

"I'm getting sleepy, let's go to the park."

"Just go back to your room."

"I don't feel like going back there." Sougo said as he unlatched himself from her grip and limped towards his favorite park bench. China situated herself on the other end. Hospitals reeked with the stench of bleach and death; it had no welcoming feel to it. It wasn't somewhere he wanted to be.

"What are gonna do then; use my lap as a pillow?" The redhead said sarcasm dripping from her words, opening up her umbrella, which he failed to take notice of earlier.

Her words held the undertone of a challenge and he wasn't one to refuse such a thing.

"Fine then." Okita nonchalantly laid his head on China's lap.

He waited for the blow. Any kind of attack. Since this would surely piss off the girl he's lying on. The only response he got though was an ever-darkening blush on China's face. It was kind of cute. In that it just saved your life kind of way.

Who cares if that didn't make much sense?

Not Sougo, of course…and you included, if you ever want to see the light of day again.

"Guess that peanut, you call a brain, fell out of your head while you were sleeping last night." Her face was really red.

"Is that what happened to yours?" Okita mocked.

"You fucking bastard, sometimes I wonder why I even bother to deal with the likes of you." She scowled.

"Maybe it's because you fell for awesome me?" Okita joked.

"D-d-don't get your hopes up, sadist. A classy lady like me would never go after the likes of you." The redhead sneered.

"If you're a 'classy lady' then I must be the kindest man in all the land~"

"More like the stupidest."

"Nah, that's you."

Okita took notice that while their little banter went on, her hands absentmindedly started swishing his hair back and forth, similar to a cat playing with a cattail. Oddly enough it was relaxing, so he wouldn't say anything about it.

It was odd how she was acting today.

First it was the staring at his (sexy) chest, then it was helping him out of the hospital, and now she was letting him lay on her lap and playing with his hair.

See?

It was strange.

Why was she acting this way?

Okita felt his eyelids drop as his thought was spammed with anything reminding him of china.

A jumble of words superimposed itself in the sky. The words slowly spaced out to a more comprehensible text.

It read: _More Than just friends? (Girl's edition)…Take this quiz to find out!_

That was it. That's what he had forgotten about from last night. China has a crush on him. Even though he was more lucid compared to last night, the idea of China liking him didn't bother him at all. Maybe it was because the brunette couldn't help but to feel a disgusting, unwanted emotion overtake him whenever he saw her.

Did that mean he liked her?

No.

It was impossible to feel any affection towards the likes of her…

_Isn't she our type though? Strong-willed… the kind that falls harder than rest when you break her*. _Konani teased.

Yes but…

Sougo looked up at the girl in question. She was such a stupid, gullible, cheeky, gluttonous, and cu—capricious girl… Okita blinked in surprise. Was he really about to call China cute? In a strange, very abstract, sense she was cute (only within the dark realms of his mind would that thought ever dare venture).

Yeah, one could say he had some sort of affection for China but that very same person might end up waking in a hospital, should it ever be mentioned aloud.

Okay, no really, his feelings for China were like that of a child and his toy. She was someone he could play with all the time. She was also very precious and not something he would/wanted to give up.

"Hey, you two love monkeys!" Okita tilted his head to see a panicked-looking Danna, a pair of glasses and its stand…and creepy zebra standing just a couple feet from them. The albino went on talking as Sougo 'unintentionally' tuned him out.

Why was there a zebra here?

Did no one else notice it or was everyone used to this kind of thing?

Why did he associate with such odd people?

Of course it was because he was one of them.

Okita tuned back into Danna's rambling.

"…away." What did he say? Okita didn't get more time to ponder on it when suddenly he found his face making contact with the ground. "What! We have to find her." Kagura, who was now standing, frowned. She made a move to walk towards Danna but Okita grabbed her hand and helped himself up. He dusted off his shoulders. "Don't forget about me now."

China cocked an eyebrow. "I thought you didn't like kids."

"That has nothing to do with this. She's my responsibility, so that's a lot of paperwork for me if she doesn't get found." The brunette deadpanned. "You're nothing but a burden, sadist." She placed her hands on both her hips. It was kind of true but, he wouldn't let China have her way.

"Burden? You must be confusing the word with awesome." Okita smirked.

" Nah, don't think so."

"Guys we don't have time with this!" the glasses stand shouted, effectively stopping the argument.

Danna picked up the conversation.

"Hasegawa and I'll go one way. Kagura, and you'll go the opposite way; we'll meet back here when the sun's going down." Danna pointed at each respective person as he spoke which included the zebra…so it was actually there.

"Hey! What about me?" yelled a useless megane.

"Oh yeah Shinpachi, I forgot you were there." Danna said, a false apologetic smile adorning his face. "You can wait here, just in case she comes by before one of spots her.

" Sometimes I just…" Megane looked off to the side sadly. China went over to his side, trying to cheer him, though it was having the opposite effect.

"Soichirou-kuuun~" The natural-perm stepped closer to Okita, keeping his voice just slight above a whisper. "If you ever hurt Kagura, I'll be sure to play pachinko with your balls." And with that Danna backed up, slung an arm around the zebra, and started walking away. As they walking, Danna turned back and gave him a scary troll face (2).

Was that a threat?

Wasn't he the injured one?

"Nothing to worry about it, Danna." It wasn't a lie. He was just going to tease her relentlessly. Hey, can you blame him? She had a crush on him. That wasn't something that could be left ignored.

"I hope you can stand on your own 'cause I'm not helping you, aru." China said standing beside him. He took notice of the slight pout on her lips. Definitely not cute.

"But China~ you've helped me so far, why not continue?" Okita tilted his to the side, giving her a pitiful smile which contrasted greatly with the sadistic gleam in his wine irides.

"B-b-bastard, you own me so much sukonbu for this right now." But none the less China once again became his crutch. They began walking opposite the direction Danna had just gone in silence, well until Okita started teasing her.

Twenty looooong minutes went by like that and China had made Okita walk on his own since he wouldn't stop being 'an annoying'. The duo also still haven't spotted Ay—"There she is." Okita pointed up at the roof of some building.

"Where."

"Up there, can't you see her?"

"No one's up there." China gave him an incredulous look. He looked back to where to he had pointed. She was right…no one was there though he could have sworn he saw her.

Every damn minute later, he kept seeing Ayumi pop up from somewhere. It was weird and at some point it felt like the buildings were watching him.

They were! They had eyeballs and only paid attention to him…Ugh, there was no time for this; they have to find that girl.

"You okay sadist?" She led him to sit on a bench.

"Couldn't be any better unless you want to help with that." Sougo gave her a whimsical smile. Making her all blush-y and angry was becoming a favorite pastime of his. She about to make a retort except her face gleamed in happiness. "There's Ayumi!"

Sougo rolled his eyes. "Ha ha very funny, China."

"Not really, dumbass, thar she blooows." She twisted his head to the side (quite harshly, if I may add).

It was her…for real this time.

"We've been looking all over for you." China ran towards her, arms spread wide, ready to embrace the girl once she was reached. Okita expected the younger girl to yell 'kagura-nee-chan.", running to China, and the two sharing a hug at the halfway point.

But it didn't happen.

Just the opposite really.

The child looked just about scared out of her mind before running _away _from the redhead. Sougo, under different circumstances, would've been laughing his ass off at China's blunt 'rejection' but, this was an important matter. Ayumi had no reason to run away from them…or did she?

That question will be answered once they get her back. So, Okita and China—mostly the latter for obvious reasons—raced after her.

Ayumi sure was quick being such a young girl or maybe a more suited word would be that she was agile. She weaved through random pedestrians, made speedy turns, and jumped fences. It was almost like she knew the place…like she knew every square inch of it. But that couldn't be possible.

She had been in captivity for the last three years and this part of town only sprang up about two years ago.

It didn't make any sense.

It just didn't.

The girl made a swift right turn, China and him following. Okita stopped.

They met a dead-end.

So where was the nine-year old?

"What are you waiting for, sadist." China called back as she ran right _through _the wall.

Holy shit.

Did the two of them gain some unexplained power while he was in a coma….Geez, what was up with him?

"_The most common side-effect you may experience is illusions…"_ The nurse's words replayed in his head.

Ri—ight.

So, he was going to have to deal with this for the rest of the day, huh?

Well, that sucked.

How was he supposed to find Ayumi when he didn't know what was real or not? He let out an involuntarily groan. China grabbed his hand and pulled him along. Once passing the wall, they the scenery changed to the inside of an old factory. Just from one glance around, he could tell it infested with gang members and bums.

This place also looked familiar. It was possible he might have been here once or twice, possibly breaking a couple bones (all in the name of justice, of course) more than he cares to remember.

" 'Ey boys, look who came back. Let's replay the favor."

Judging from the amount of thugs gathering around them…Okita had heroically broken a lot of bones during his past visits. .

"Assaulting a police officer is felony. That's at least a year in prison for you imbeciles, if you didn't know." He smirked. He knew they probably didn't give a shit about what he was saying but, still it was protocol.

A man, who Okita deemed was the leader and shall be called so, stepped up from the crowd. He looked—only looked—_tough_; A yellow and orange tattoo of a sun surrounded his right eye. His tan skin gave a look of leather. A cluster of black came around his chin in the semblance of a beard. His slicked back hair was the only evidence he had any sense of the words 'personal hygiene'.

"How much time would I get for killing one?" He chuckled. The group joined in.

"The only punishment you'll get for that is a thorough ass-kicking for even _thinking _you could kill me." Okita stared at him as if he was a teacher denouncing a troublesome student in front of his peers, rather than being the recipient of a threat.

Leader drew out a gun, instantly. "We'll see about that."

Sougo showed no sign of fear even as the man cocked his gun, he turned to China.

"Hey China, let's see who can beat the most."

"Obviously it's gonna be me, aru."

"You think I won't shoot you! You think I don't the balls to do it." Leader was subsequently ignored.

"What would possible make you think that?" Okita titled his head.

"Because—"

"Listen when somebody is talking to you!" Leader got a little trigger-happy at this point. China's umbrella parachuted opened, effectively stopping the bullets from hitting them though some of the shots ricocheted and hit some of Leader's goons.

Just as planned.

The number of willing fighters was now reduced though dealing with the remaining bunch would still be a pain in the arse since Okita had to worry about his wounds.

Leader seemed even madder now. "Get them." With wave of his hand, the hoodlums let loose. Sougo side-stepped an incoming punch, letting the man behind him take it for him. A high kick came his way. Okita ducked, smirking harder when he heard someone's nose breaking in place of his. Small actions can make a big difference~ the brunette didn't like resorting to this fighting style since he wasn't the one bringing pain to his enemies. But this was the more appropriate choice as to not re-opening his injuries.

"Hey man why'd ya hit meh!"

"Ow my eye!"

"My leg!"

"Bastard you did that on purpose!"

Things of that nature echoed throughout the room and soon enough the battle became no longer 30-2 but a full out brawl where everyone was an opponent.

Everything was going as planned.

Okita detached himself from the crowd to watch his beautiful creation at work, giving him just enough time to see China grab a metal pole from the ground and start swinging that thing like a maniac. Closer and closer she was coming to him. He was only saved by his swift reflexes. The others were not as quick.

"Damn women, what if you had hit me with that thing!" Sougo yelled.

"All the more better." She grunted, still holding the pole. Ignoring how close she was to injuring him, she did a fairly good job at wiping out most, if not all, of the men left...or not…A man rushed towards the redhead while her back was turned. Okita could only move so quickly. But, he made it just in time and pushed her out of the way, taking the blow instead. Lucky for him, the guy was pathetically weak so, not much damage was done. She gave his attacker a roundhouse kick to the face. Another man tried to catch China off guard. This other fellow wasn't as fortunate as the previous. He received a blow to his neo armstrong cyclone jet armstrong cannon.

"What the hell teme! Are you going to try to 'protect' me when you're the one whose fucking injured?" China demanded.

Why couldn't she understand?

"You're one of those people I can't afford to lose." His words were almost inaudible. But he knew she had heard him for she made a small gasp. He didn't even need to look back at her to see the surprise on her face for what he had just said even surprised himself.

Two…three…maybe even four men out of possible 30 men were left standing (read: conscious) along with Leader.

"Any more of you want to be taught a lesson?" Okita's were gleaming in sadistic delight though he'd rather put a time-out on this game because right now it felt like his foot was having a cuddling session with porcupine. A _very clingy_ porcupine.

"C'mon g-g-guys, we don't n-n-need to waste our time with this g-g-garbage." Leader looked as if he was about to wreck his pants. Wouldn't it be great if that happened? Leader and the men leftover made a fast retreat to anywhere other than here.

Okita whipped around to face China, when he heard the sound the metal being ripped apart. China thrust the makeshift cane into his hand. "Here, your foot hurts, doesn't it?" She didn't give him room to reply as she begun walking.

* * *

A pregnant silence floated in…that is until the redhead broke by saying. "After defeating a bunch of goons, Kagura the Amazingly cute-and-awesome with her handicapped apprentice SS-Bastard continue their quest to find their companion Ayumi. Will they be able to find her before anything happens. Find out next time!"

"First off, I'm not handicapped and more importantly I'd rather eat Hijikata's mayo-special for the rest of my life before ever becoming your apprentice. " Okita deadpanned. He wasn't even going to bother with the unusual choice in 'names'.

"You'd make a shitty apprentice anyway." She retorted.

"Who needs to be the lame apprentice, if I'm the king?"

"What? You can't be the King, if I'm the queen!"

"You'd be my queen, of course."

His teasing game has started back up.

"B-b-bastard, I'd never settle for a sadist." She frowned, blush evident on her face.

"China, my feelings, you hurt them."

"You have those?" She said in mock-surprise.

_Flirting with the girl we __**don't **__like. _Konani sighed.

'Flirting' wouldn't be his choice of words but yeah that's all he was doing; playing with his favorite toy.

_We like so many things about her so that means we like her yet we deny we like her. That's very illogical." _Konani stated.

So what if he likes her hair, likes to mess around with her, thought she was cute sometimes (you know in the darker parts of his mind), and didn't want to share her with anyone. That didn't mean he likes her…Realization hit him like a parent putting off Christmas shopping 'til the last minute. You don't notice during the beginning of the month and then _BAM! _Christmas is just a couple days away. What are you going to do now?

Anyway getting back on point, Sougo has now just discovered that he probably did like China. 'Like' being that sick disgusting way that he thought he'd promise himself never to do especially with someone like her but looked what happened anyway kind of way and possibly for a long time now.

God how was he going to deal with thi—_Piiiing._

The redhead snort, letting out a torrent of unappreciated giggles (more like an obnoxious laugh) as Okita realized he had walked right into a metal pole.

Stupid pole.

It made him loss his train of thought.

"You could have told me I was about to walk into that." Okita could feel the bruise beginning to form on his forehead

"Bwahahaha! Then I wouldn't be laughing right now, now would I?" She laughed whilst picking her nose, later wiping on the pole he had just it; it deserved it. She could be so lady-like sometimes; a perfect gentlewoman.

If you didn't catch the sarcasm just now, you're an idiot.

The duo stopped talking when they saw a blur of person no taller than five feet. That had to be Ayumi. China and him bolted towards her, following the echoing sound of soft, rhythmic footsteps and heavy breathing.

They were getting closer to her when a sudden flash of light filled their vision.

She was trying to escape from the backdoor. They didn't give their eyes enough time to adjust, just opting to cover their eyes with their forearm and running straight into the light. Once outside, China said. "There she is." Ayumi was trying, and thankfully failing, to climb up the fence. Kagura ran and grabbed her, giving her no room for escape.

"Ayumi, why did you run away?" China asked.

"That's not my—wait you know my sister?" The child in her arms stopped struggling.

What!

* * *

7k word, huh ;D….I noticed I've been using a lot 'profanity' (I wouldn't really call them those) in this chapter. I think I made Okita OOC T.T but please take into consideration that he did wake up from a coma, so his head's going to be a little 'jumbled'. God, I feel like I ruined this story for you guys

(1)I Think Okita said this during that toshi arc (FRENCH BREAD! Lol sorry)

(2)Sexy Gin-troll, it's the face he makes at the beginning of opening 9. I just love that face XDDD

Random fact that's not important: did you guys know that Kamui's only seven days older than Okita? I did not know that till…like…now O.O

I promise to get the next/last chapter by my birthday (which is Jan 5.) or else you're not going to see the next one till late Feb. Okay this is a little self-advertising/preview of a new OkiKagu fic I'm beginning to write~ but you're probably not going to see full chapter till sometime in Feb either *shot*

* * *

**Samurai Hearts**

Everyone in Gintama Z is involved in the war...

Though anyone associated with Kagura is ensured a painful death.

So why is she letting these people get to her?

* * *

**Preview**

Okita took a sip of his cola; looking down at the other students on the courtyard. It was days like these that he relished. The birds were singing their meaningless song, a gentle breeze danced throughout the air and not a cloud in the sky. The roof was a good place to be for times like this. You could see so much from up here. But right now there something he really wanted to see. Okita took out a pair of binoculars and watched his home economics teacher walk out to a tree. A smirk was planted on Sougo's features.

Hijikata went to eat at the same tree every day which made things much easier for Sougo. He waited until the man got close enough. "Die, Hijikata!" He yelled out before pressing on the trigger for the bomb that conveniently was set up at that tree.

_Boom!_

Yes today was the perfect day to kill Hijikata.

Okita waited for the smoke to clear up, searching for any sign of a corpse—A certain mayo-eating-nicotine-addicted-bastard-corpse. So, he could report if there had been a terrorist attack on the school and only Hijikata was caught up in the fire.

Problem: there was no body in sight.

What the hell just happened—oh wait, no, there he was…and with someone else.

Hadn't he told (read: threatened) everyone not to interfere with him and Hijikata's _'_playtime' unless they wanted to play too?

He put back on his binoculars observed his soon-to-be victim. Certain punish—err, I mean—certain _games_ were for certain people. He could tell by the uniform it was a girl (or a cross-dressing male with feminine features, but he'll go with girl since chances of finding the former were low). Either that chick was new to the school or just plain suicidal. She sat up—more like jerked up—an unconscious Hijikata from the ground and leaned him against a tree. Just before she left the scene, the girl glanced up in his direction.

Her cerise hair was held in twin buns which contrasted nicely with her milky white skin…and she had bright sapphire eyes. That girl kind of reminded him of a china doll. Maybe he'd make her into his slave as punishment for interrupting his little game…


	9. Rip It Off Like A BandAid

…**.I'm ashamed of myself ._. I promised this would be up like 2 days ago….how many of you actually checked on the 5****th****? I hope no one did so I don't feel as bad ;_; would it make it better if I told you guys I stayed up the whole night to write this. Oh! Reviewer who has the same birthday as me. Happy Belated Birthday!~ **＼（＾∀＾）メ（＾∀＾）ノ

**Anyway thank you for the reviews. They mean so much, you don't even know it. I hope you'll read my other story that I'm working on. **

**Please excuse any spelling/grammatical error I have. I looked it over but there may some left especially grammatical ones.**

**Gintama does not belong to me, don't even try me like that.**

* * *

**Just Rip It Off Like A Band-Aid. **

The child currently in Kagura's arms was not Ayumi but, a child who looked eerily similar to the former; her twin brother for fuck's sake! Are you serious; what are the chances?

All that running they did was…for nothing.

All the torment she went through with that sadist. It was all in vain.

Well it wasn't all the bad…spending time with the guy was sort of fun…forget what you just read. When she gets hungry, her mind gets all retarded and stuff!

"Let go of me." The boy clawed at her forearm—nothing to worry about she wasn't _choking_ him or anything. Of course, she wasn't going to let him go…that is until he bit her. Yup, you read that right. That snot-nosed brat just bit into her flawless, milky white skin! Kami-sama, it was probably going to leave a nasty red mark coated in nasty kid slobber. Kagura released him and examined her arm not before shooting a glare at the sadist who was smirking. Sure, it was going to go away in a couple of minutes. But, the problem was the fact that he bit her.

"Where's my sister? Is she in trouble?" His voice was level but, she could see the desperation in his cerulean eyes.

"No, _as far as we know._"Kagura decided to leave the last part out. She felt sorry for the boy. He just found out his sister was alive, only to lose her again. She'd make sure it won't be as long this time if it was the last thing she did.

"Where is she?" He asked once again.

"We're playing hide-and-seek, so we don't know." She lied, glancing at the sadist as a hint for him to go along. He said nothing. That was a good sign.

"Are you sure you guys can find her? Ayu-chan's really good at hiding…that is if she's still the same." He stated.

"There's nothing to worry about, I used to be a Flamer-Hazer (1). So hide-and-seek is my forte." Kagura smiled, her hand reaching out to pat the boy on the head.

_Action denied._

The latter had slapped her hand away.

"Please don't treat me like a child." His voice was devoid of any emotion, almost robotic. "You're not playing hide-and-go-seek, are you? You lost her, didn't you? You guys don't need to lie to me. I understand." The happy atmosphere was suddenly crushed. He'd seen through her lie. A peculiar thing it was for a kid to be able to conceal his emotions like an adult however Kagura had a pretty good idea on why he was reacting like that.

She had experienced something similar years ago.

It was the year Kamui had left home. She had hoped he would come back…come back to his little sister and sickly mother…she hoped he would come back home. It never happened of course but, back then everything had left her feeling aloof especially when her mother died, leaving her all alone. It was then, Kagura decided she wasn't going to let things happen and just be okay with it. She was going to take fate by its reigns and control her own life.

The point to this little anecdote was that though these two occurrences were different in the sole sense that one had willingly left home, she understood how he felt. She understood those feelings of indifference, denial, and desperation.

Realizing now how he must have felt, Kagura felt even more motivated than previously to find Ayumi.

She watched Okita couch down, making himself at eyelevel with the boy.

What was he going to do? It better not be anything stupid.

"It's good that you understand the situation. It's true. We don't know where she is but, as the beast over there said, there's nothing to worry about we're going to find her." Okita deadpanned.

"How can I believe you?" He asked.

He was right.

How could he believe some strangers who said they'd find his sister?

"Simple. Because I said we'd find her." Sadist stood up and tousled the boy's raven locks. The latter let happen this time.

Were her eyes and ears deceiving her or did the sadist just show some sympathy?

He had made the kid smile. A small one but, a smile it was nonetheless. Kagura couldn't help to smile along. Maybe it was because he could relate also. She had heard about him having a sister at some point in time.

"Come on, let's go." He said and started to walk (trying to make himself look cool) but, failed when he applied too much pressure on his foot again. Ha! His foot still hurts. She was by his side in an instant but he waved her saying he didn't need any help. It's funny how before they got to the boy, he was all flirty-flirty with her and would have cracked if she offered. Now Kagura can tell that shit just got serious. Well more serious than before.

Kagura noticed that Ayumi's brother was just standing in the same place. "Come on…. A...Ak…" What was the kid's name again? Ayumi had said it at some point. It was uh… "Akamoto."

"It's Akira, flat-y!" He yelled which resulted in an immediate headlock. How dare he insult her assets; her boobs were awesome! She wasn't even that far off from his name.

"Let me go!" He yelled.

"Apologize to the queen-aru."

"I'm...sorry." He said with a natural coolness.

Kagura wasn't happy with it but, she released the boy. Once she had done that, Akira had gone the sadist's side. Well, well, well, look who has a new friend, sadist.

That was good.

Akira was starting to warm up, just a bit for now and not to her but, she could deal with that. She'd get to him eventually.

As they walked to god-knows-where, Okita bumped into so many things she thought she'd piss herself. But after that, her mind started thinking back on the incident from just almost fifteen minutes ago. The softer look in his eyes and benign smile were something she rarely, if not never got to see from him. It was nice and she'll admit _only to herself_ that it made him look cute. Maybe one day, he'd make that kind of expression for her…

Changing the subject, Sadist was surprisingly good with kids. She wasn't jealous or anything since she was also. She just never thought the bastard was capable of it. Kagura found herself musing on the idea of the sadist being a father. A mini-movie played in her head of him teaching the poor kid the way of sadism and bastard-ness. That was until the mama came into the picture...er….film. She was just a grey blob of a person. Kagura couldn't figure who to put there. Because who in the right mind would marry the sadist? Her imagination had a cheeky way of answering by replacing the grey figure with an older version of herself.

Kagura stopped momentarily and made a pose resembling _The Scream (2)_.

Where did such a preposterous idea come from?

Marrying _that _guy?

What has been thought cannot be un-thought!

The damage has been done-aru!

ORZ.

Her innocent mind cannot handle such a vulgar thought or that's at least what she wants to believe except it didn't bug her in the god-I-want-vomit-for-even-thinking-like-that kind of way. It was more like introverted schoolgirl giving an oral presentation in front of the whole school kind of way. She must have gotten some type of sickness for thinking about the sadist so much. Her stomach made itself known. _'Grrrrr.' _ It complained which translated in human words as _I'm going to a be a major pain in the ass if you don't feed me soon and it better be a lot too. _Yeah, her stomach was very demanding and sadly she couldn't always fulfill its demands.

_Grrr. _That growl didn't come from her stomach this time. It sounded like it came from below her therefore it must've been Akira's stomach whining. She glanced at him. He just blushed slightly but other than that he seemed to ignore it. After that contest was set up between the two organs to see who could make the loudest noise; her was winning by a landslide.

"Sounds like someone's hungry~" She could practically hear the smirk in the brunette's tone.

"Would do you care, bastard." She sneered.

He merely shrugged in response and said. "And here, I thought I'd play the nice guy for once and offer to buy you some food."

"Oh really?" She tried to make her interest in the topic vague and failed horribly. Could you blame her? This was _food_ we were talking about; the greatest thing in the world—no the universe—since forever! She just needs to keep her guard up.

"Here's a place we can go to." He led them to some dango stand. It wasn't spectacular or anything, pretty run-down by the looks of it. But as Mama had told her when she was little 'it's not good to judge things by there appearance. Remember a butterfly starts off as a slimy caterpillar.' And wasn't it a rule of nature that the more disgusting something looks, it was probably the tastiest? So this dango stand better have some good dangos, aru.

She and Akira sat on a nearby bench as they waited for the brunette to go buy the sweet balls of deliciousness.

This gave her time to think about what's been going on for almost a week. Why did she think that she thought that she might or possibly not, and hopefully the latter, kind of have feelings for her rival? Her feelings were as confusing as that sentence.

No, she had a word for these feelings; affection, adulation…love whatever fancy word you want to use for the person you think is the 'one' or the one who might be that special person.

But, she couldn't have been right. Sadist + her ≠ love. They were rivals. She couldn't have fallen for her rival; she couldn't have fallen for a sadist. She was supposed to marry the world's greatest chef who would cook her anything like Sanji (3) or something. Okay that last sentence was a bit of a stretch but, she did want someone who would cook for her, hold her and make her feel special. Of course she would do the same for them, even the cooking part though it might be a little difficult. She wasn't sure if Sadist would do the same.

Well he does protect her even when it's completely unnecessary (earlier this morning) and he sometimes does make her feel like she's the only girl in the world (that can be annoying as hell though). He also understands her, strange as it is. And it's not like he was ugly or anything, kind of the opposite really even she had to admit. All she needed to do is find out if the sadist can cook. Then maybe it would be alright.

Okay, she didn't hate the sadist. She now might go even as far as to say that she liked him. She'll admit it.

God, kill her now, please!

Oh wait. There was the factor of if the brunette liked her back.

How could he not? She was fabulous! But, she seriously wondered whether of not he would return her questionable feelings. Its not like didn't hint it but he never straight up flirted with her like he did with Saa-chan at that bar. (4)

_Grrr. Food. _Her stomach did not like to be ignored.

What was taking the tormentor of her thoughts so long?

She was hungry, okay. She cut her breakfast short from eight bowls of rice and eggs to just seven. Cutting one makes a _big _difference to her. He came back outside minutes later, giving Akira his own share and then keeping the rest to himself. There was obviously a problem with that. Where was her share?

"Sadist…"

"Oh I'm sorry, perhaps you wanted some?" He said finishing a stick.

Her pride spoke for her. "I don't want anything from you." She frowned, turning to gaze at something that was not the sadist. _Grrr. Yes you do. _Her stomach protested.

"You sure you don't want some, China?" Sadist smirked. He clearly knew how hungry she was. Not too many people's stomachs can sound like a bear with a cold.

"Give it to me." She demanded.

"Now China, that's not the proper way to say it and you know that." Okita tilted his head slightly, a mischievous glint in his eyes, that irritating smirk still present. The sun was behind him, casting a shadow over his face. He looked like a total sadist.

A pregnant silence flew by as she debated on what she should do.

There was no way she was going to kneel over and beg the sadist for it. However, she was hungry and broke. But, doing this meant she stooped to his level.

Ah, what should she do?

Food vs. Pride, decisions, decisions.

"C-c-can I have some…please?" There she said it. She even added a 'please' at the end of that sentence to seal the deal.

"Huh—" She watched horrifically as the last dango entered a mouth that wasn't hers...the mouth of that heartless tax excuse of a human being. He towards her, face dangerously close to hers. "I didn't hear you." He licked some sauce from the corner of his lip.

That's it.

She was going to kill him. Ripping him to very tiny pieces sounded like a good idea or maybe tying him to a tree to die in the middle of nowhere— like Gin-chan but, seriously this time—would better. Then the birds can pick out his eyes as he screams in pain and no one would be able to hear him, not for miles. Once he was dead, scavengers could come and eat up whatever was left of him. The redhead was unaware of the dark aura forming over her body as she was having her happy-thoughts.

Never mess with Kagura when it comes to food. Well anything in general but, especially when it comes to food!

As much as she would love to go with the latter idea, Kagura was smart enough to know that killing a tax-robber would land her a one-way ticket to jail and she, herself, was too good for jail. The only way she could get away with it was through a crime of passion. It would be a believable story. She was a yato and yatos were notoriously known for their undeniable love for food. So, coming between a yato and his/her food was suicide. However for this to be categorized as a crime of passion, it would have to be within minutes of the incident. That marathon of Crime and Chaos was once again coming in handy.

She glanced at the sadist. His back was turned to her.

Now was her chance!

Just as she was about to attack the brunette, he had the nerve to turn back around.

"As much as I would love for you to kill me, here ya go." He shoved a full plate of wonderful, wonderful dangos into her hands. She was still pissed, but she'll save killing the sadist for another day.

"You're such a weird guy." It was her form of a thank you to him and she knew he understood what she meant when she saw the smirk on his face. Kagura hesitantly ate the first stick. It was fine. The next five she ate were the same as the first; nothing wrong. Maybe the sadist finally grew up, Kagura smiled inwardly. Now she was on her last stick. She gobbled it down with no regrets.

A few seconds later, her tongue was going to shrivel up and fall off or at least felt like it. What was this shit? It tasted bitter and sour yet there was an underlying tinge of spiciness. That bloody bastard; how dare he trick her again! She could just vomit right now…on the sadist. Said man was practically on the floor laughing his stupid ass off.

Man! She just wanted to punch something! It would have been him if she didn't fear she would've killed him too quickly. The man deserved a **much more **painful death. She finally found something and she hit it with a passion like none before.

Poor lamppost.

But at least now she could actually try and calm down.

"Is she going to be okay?" She heard Akira ask.

"Don't worry; this _girl _is more like a beast than girl." The brunette sat next to him and started asking him a series of questions about what-not but she tuned him out, formulating her vengeance.

She was going to get revenge for sure. Payback like no other had even imagined and it involved a huge supply of Sadaharu's crap, itching powder, and the cover of darkness.

She'll make him regret tricking her, just like they did with Gin-chan and his drinking problem.

Kagura tuned their conversation back on time. "—she's always doing this; unwilling to show how she really feels…She most likely went somewhere with the least amount of people." Kagura assumed the 'she' he was talking about was Ayumi.

Kagura let out a sigh. Ayumi was still hurting on the inside. She should have suspected that. One does not find out that three years or so of her life is a lie and then after a few tears, brushes it off. It was going to take some time for the cuts to heal. She was a good kid, she didn't deserve this. Kagura smiled, ruefully.

Wasn't it like that for a bunch of people?

She stood up and opened up her parasol. Even though the sun was beginning to go down, the amount of sunlight she was already receiving was beginning to make her feel dizzy. "You guys were supposed to go back to Shinpachi and tell him you found her." Said a familiar voice. It was Gin-chan—she glanced behind her—and Madao.

"I think you're mistaken Danna, this is the girl's twin brother." Okita deadpanned.

"Really?" The silver samurai walked over to the child-in-question and lifted him up by the scruff of his collar, his dead fish eyes starting intensely. "Hm, you're right."

"Put me down." demanded the young boy, his voice was taking on a cold vibe.

"And if I don't." Gin-chan questioned.

"I'll kick your _*bleep*_" The noirette automatically answered.

"This is definitely her brother." The silverette dropped him almost immediately. Akira scuffled back to sit on the bench beside her. "How is this even possible, finding his family member but not her."

"You know Gin-san; I've heard that twins can like read each other's minds or something. Maybe he could send her a message."

"Do I even need to point out what's wrong with that sentence? It's as probable as you having a steady job."

"I don't know Danna maybe we could find some twins and—" Okita was interrupted with a loud shout from Gin-chan.

"Don't even there are children around us, a twin himself, in fact!"

The conversation when on like that; Gin-chan temporarily taking the role of the straight man as Kagura continued her plans for revenge.

She took notice of how Akira kept shifting in his seat. He looked like he needed to say something but, he just remained silent. It was very polite of him which was completely unnecessary for this group of idiot. So Kagura decided to shut up the people for him.

"Listen up, Akira has something to say."

"I think I know where she is."

"You do?" Kagura asked. All eyes were on him.

"Yes." There was a slight blush on his cheeks, probably from all the attention he was receiving.

"Why didn't you say so before?"

"I haven't been there for a long time so, I just forgot about it. She hasn't been there in longer so she might not even be able to remember it, let alone go there."

"Was it her favorite place to go?"

"Yes we went there whenever we could."

"Well then she definitely there. You never can forget a place like that even in twenty years; you'll still be able to recall every nook and cranny." Gin-chan stated with a glazed look in his eye. Maybe he was thinking of his old secret hideout.

"C'mon you led the way."

* * *

"She's in there." Akira pointed to the entrance of a forest.

"Why would she even be in there of all places?" Gintoki complained. "Can't she be anywhere else like I don't know somewhere smaller?"

"Of course not the whole thing." The little boy led them in. It felt like the temperature dropped a few degrees as they entered. The trees were so tightly woven together that it was hard to tell where one branch ended, and another began. Specks of sunlight passed through the tiny holes between the leaves. Various bird calls chimed throughout the forest. Was this really their secret place? Kagura closed her parasol. It was cramped too. They had to walk in a single file line even.

A few minutes later Akira pulled aside to giant palm leaves. "This is our hideout." He said with a hint of pride. It was like they entered a new place. It was a massive circular area, giving them enough room to spread out. Thick vine tapestry hung from the tree branches, some of them had faded origami cranes ties to them while others had old model airplanes and hollow plastic stars. The floor had pirate swords—plastic, the redhead hoped—, books, teddy bears, and crayons all leading to a big toy chest.

Now this was a secret hideout.

"It looks more like baby Jane's (5)." Gin-chan commented.

"There she is." Sadist was the first to spot Ayumi but, Akira was the first to make it to the sleeping girl, followed by Kagura. There the girl lay, curled up next to a tree. Judging from the redness of her cheeks, she must have cried herself to sleep.

"Aki….Is that really you?" Her words were laced with sleep. Subsequently she was engulfed into a bear hug by him. That woke her up. This was the most lively Kagura has seen the boy get.

"Aki! It really is you." She beamed, hugging him back with just as much gusto. The rasp in her voice didn't go unnoticed by anyone.

"Of course it is, idiot!" Tears brimmed at the bottom of Akira's eyes, ready to spill over.

"I missed you and mommy so much."

"We almost thought you were….we were never going to see you again."

"But, I'm right here."

"Yeah…now you are." He let go of Ayumi and wiped his eyes furiously in a sad attempt to get rid of his tears but, they wouldn't go away.

"Men aren't supposed to cry, damn it!"

Kagura put a hand on his shoulder. "Crying doesn't make you weak. Whoever told you that is an idiot. If you don't ever cry then your heart's going to get rusty." He stared up at her before letting all his tears unleash fully. Ayumi calmly put her arms around him until his cries finally subsided.

"Now Ayumi, the same can be said to you." Kagura said. Ayumi was puzzled. "There's no need to hide your pain. We understand how you feel. No one will think less of you if you start to cry in front of us. We're your friends remember? When you're feeling sad, we'll be right behind you to turn that frown upside-down." Kagura made a small smile.

Ayumi could only smile as a small tear seeped out of her right eye. "Thank you nee-chan….Okita-nii-chan…Hei-chan's going to jail but what's going to happen to Ta-kun? Please don't put him away in jail." She pleaded.

"Who's Ta-kun?" He asked.

"Tatsuya." Kagura answered.

The man ran a hand through his straw tresses "Well him….I can't say that he's not going to jail but _may the odds be in your favor_. (6)"

"Is that so? Alrighty then, when can I go home?"

"Once you're mother fills out some papers….actually you can go today."

"Really!" Ayumi and Akira said in unison.

"Yes but, make sure your mother fills out the papers tomorrow."

"Well now that that's over. I'll take these kids back. Seems like you two have something to talk about." Gin-chan must have over-noticed her dilemma. What a wonderful time to use your analytical skills old man, Kagura frowned inwardly.

"Huh? Danna, what are you talking about?" The silver-perm was already gone with the kids plus Madao who really had no reason to be here anyway.

And then there were two.

One oblivious, the other had…what was the thing girl used for when they were near their person of interest?

Now she got the word. She had butterflies in her stomach as disgusting as that sounded. She temporarily let her thoughts slip to whether the expression came from an amanto who actually had butterflies in her stomach or was it just earthlings being weird again. Because of all the things that could be in your stomach, why the heck would butterflies be in there?

"Well China" Kagura jumped. When did he get behind her? "What is it that we need to talk about?"

She turned around, taking note of their close proximity.

How could she express this…these infuriating feelings...tell the sadist about how he made her feel. How he made blush and feel all weird yet at the same time was she felt like herself around him. She expressed, on multiple occasions, her odium for him. But, the feelings she had right now were something similar to that of love. It was paradoxical. It was confusing, so damn confusing.

Kagura bit her bottom lip. How could she prove to herself and show him how she felt?

Maybe she should convey it like they do on those shows Gin-chan doesn't want her watching (but she does anyway because no one tells her what to do even though most of the time she does follow his rules but that's because they're in accord with what she was going to do anyway).

Well that was one thing she could do.

Kagura grabbed Okita's collar, roughly.

The kiss was messy, uncoordinated and she was immediately regretting the decision. But, at least she was able to show the sadist how she felt…

Though her eyes were closed she could visualize the sadist's face clearly; full of shock.

Kagura pulled away, almost breathlessly. She was sure there was a blush on her face. Good thing it was relatively dark. Okay, not even that was helping her. She opened her eyes slowly, hoping not to see repulsion after the initial shock on the sadist face. It was just the opposite! He was smirking. Remember those butterflies she said she had in her stomach? Well those little shits turned into Tyki Mikk's (7) butterflies. She wasn't sure whether it was a good or a bad thing.

"Now, China that's not how you kiss someone." Sadist licked his bottom lip. "This is how you do it."

He cupped her chin, tilting it up slightly. She was forced stare into those mischievous eyes. No matter how much she tried to look away, they would suck her back in. His face was slowly inching closer and closer to hers. Agonizingly slow.

Then after a century and three seconds, their lips met. It was so much better than her kiss. How was that even possible? A kiss was just lips touching something else, this time being another pair of lips. How can something so simple, be so different…feel so amazing?

Her brain was mush. He pulled away, taking in her blushing face. "W-w-what are you doing? Only people who like each other can do this kind of thing!" All the blood rushing to her head was starting to make her feel dizzy. She took a step back. He did too. This kept happening until Kagura was pushed up against a wall. The sadist put one arm on the tree and leaned closer to her.

Kagura never in her life expected to be in such a clichéd position.

"Weren't you the one who initiated this whole thing?" Okita cocked an eyebrow, clearly amused.

"So! Doesn't give you the right to kiss me back." It made much more sense in her head.

"It kinda does, doesn't it." He moved in for another kiss. She pushed him away.

"Gahh stop it—why are you doing this to me?" She knew why but she wanted to hear it from his mouth.

"I think the answer is pretty oblivious. I like you, China."

"Wah?" She didn't expect the answer to be so clean-cut, so blunt. She wanted him to be embarrassed about it too, damn it!

"You should consider yourself a lucky person." He said, putting on his signature smirk.

"I don't see how liking a sadist is considered lucky."

"Because it's me."

"Even more unlucky."

"Actually, I'm the unlucky one."

"Because you fell for the queen kabuki-cho? Consider yourself lucky swine."

"Queen? In you dreams, girlie." He stepped back and proceeded to walk towards where they came from. "Hey wait up." She ran after him.

She waited until they exited the corridor to say. "So…what are we now?"

"Well we're the same as always."

"No we're not, rivals don't kiss each other, dumbass."

"I guess you're right."

"Nothings going to change, it'll just be a little different."

"How different?" She wasn't sure herself how much different she wanted it to be between. Sure, she wanted the sadist to be a little nicer to her but at the same time not. She wasn't a masochist or anything! She just felt that it would be really awkward if they acted any different towards each other.

"We'll just have a couple more options for each other...like what we did just a while back for example." Kagura felt her cheeks heat up in remembrance.

"Do…are we going to do that lovey-dovey stuff like holding hands?" Kagura didn't know why she asked. Even if he said no, she was going to do it anyway.

Sadist expressed his distain with swift "no thank you"

"Hey teme, what's wrong with holding my hand?" She frowned,

"I imagine its probably sweaty or something."

"Hey—" The brunette abortively stopped almost causing Kagura to walk right into him. Lucky she had quick reflexes or else that would have been embarrassing. "Well, here's your stop" She hadn't even noticed where they had been walking to. She looked around her. They were at the Yorozuya, her home.

Did they really walk that long?

It didn't matter anymore, seeing as that she can now raid the once-again-soon-to-be-empty-fridge and take a nice hot bath.

"See you tomorrow, sadist." She said, running up the stairs.

No reply or so she thought. "See ya, China." His words brushed past her ears just as she was about to slide open the door. She glanced down to see him already hobbling his way to the tax-robber's lair.

* * *

Two months later…

Kagura draped herself on the couch quite lazily, one leg on the ground and the other used as a bookstand for Gin-chan precious _Jump_. She didn't see why the old man like these so much. It was good but not _that _good. Now don't go passing this over to her bosses, okay? (8)

"Hey you got some mail."

Kagura lifted her head off the couch, looking at the silver-perm..

"I wonder what papi wrote to me this time."

"It's not from your dad and don't go reading people's things without their permission." Her pseudo-father lightly chided, taking the book out of her hands and replacing it with a large, flat envelope.

"Ehh? Then from who—" She looked at the return address but didn't recognize it. She turned the envelope over and opened it carefully. There was just a piece of paper inside. She took it and examined it.

It was a drawing of Ayumi, herself and sadist in the secret hideout; she and the sadist were playing with the sword while Ayumi herself was holding a book in her hands but she was clearly absorbed in their antics to read it. She was going to miss this kid. Kagura looked at the back. There was a piece of paper taped to the back of it. It read:

_Dear Kagura-nee-chan and Okita-nii-chan,_

_ Thank you for getting me back home. I will never forget you. You are always welcome to visit here. Mommy even said it was okay! Also, can I be a auntie when you guys have kids?_

_ Love,_

_ Ayumi_

_PS__._

_Akira says hi and thank you. He does not want peepole to know he feels that way. I gave him the picture too and he said I was a idiot for doing something like that. I don't think its weird. _

Kagura smiled. She'd make to heed the girl's request save for the last one in the first paragraph. Even though she and the sadist were dating now, marriage was **not** in the near-future.

She looked at the picture once more before taping to the inside of the closet/bedroom door. This was not something she would ever want to lose. Maybe she'd show it to the sadist later today.

* * *

Horrible ending is horrible :/

I'm sorry if you feel that way guys…I just don't know how to end stories DX But though you may hate me for ending it or even writing it, thanks for reading my story. My writing skills evolved greatly throughout the chapters or at least that's what I believe (and probably many others).

(1) Shana (Shakugan no Shana) and Kagura have the same seiyuu.

(2) _The Scream—_that (funny) famous painting

(3) Sanji—One Piece reference._.

(4) I don't feel like looking for the ep but its when Shogun (Sho-chan) goes to Otae's bar and Gin and the rest have to dress like girl or something.

(5) Jane—she's from Tarzan, you know the monkey-man.

(6) Hunger Games Reference (I just had to put it in there XD)

(7) Tyki Mikk the sexy BAMF from D. Gray Man

(8) Does this need explanation? Gintama is published by Jump, so her dissing it is like, well I think is, bad.

I'm kind of scared to read the reviews now ORZ

FORGIVE ME MY WONDERFUL READERS


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